U.S. Blockade Strikes Cuban Civil Aviation

Havana, Oct 22. -Cuban Civil Aeronautics suffers the impact of the U.S. blockade, with losses estimated at 276.50 million USD between May 2010 and April 2011.In general, the damages result from high prices of fuel, aircraft leasing, spare parts and other inputs due to U.S. limitations to acquire them.

The Spanish Shell company decided to cancel contracts with Cuba because of the blockade prohibitions, so that Cubana Aviacion airline had to change the fuel supplier, which caused nearly 271,840 USD in losses.

According to the Cuban report on the necessity to end the blockade that will be presented at the United Nations on Oct. 25, Cubana airline had great difficulties in 2010 to restart on-line sales.

These problems for e-commerce were due to the inability to use the USD and the reluctance of banks to operate in other currencies, which hurt the airline's position internationally.

The ban on access to the U.S. market to purchase aviation fuel, aircraft parts, and spare parts for trucks used in the Havana and Varadero airports, caused an additional expense of 5.007 million USD in 2010.

The blockade prevents the country from using the U.S. airspace, which increases the flight time of business travels between Cuba and Canada, resulting in more than 2.026 million USD in losses. (Prensa Latina)