Originally Posted by
nivsy
I was under the impression that it is actually quite hard to go to HAV ex USA, need a cleared reason? Hence many of the US carriers are actually reducing or ditching HAV from schedules. IB seems the way to go..not sure if it is still Airbus 340 plying the route though.
IIRC that applies to US citizens only. Americans can only travel to Cuba for 13 types of travel (tourism not being one of them). As far as I know most US carriers have vastly overestimated demand for US-Cuba routes when flights resumed in 2016 after 5 decades of no commercial flights between the two nations. Downsizing ops to Cuba is therefore a logical consequences.
You are however right that IB (or if AY is operating at OP's dates) is the way to go as it avoids transiting through the US. The last time I've been to Cuba, I had a flight to Panama and onwards from there.