Delta would request smaller planes to go to Cuba due to weak demand

The US airline Delta Air Lines has asked the Ministry of Transportation of its country permission to use smaller aircraft with a smaller pbadenger capacity to cover its flights to Cuba, established since 2016

After Martí News Delta has requested to fly Canadian-made CRJ aircraft, which have a maximum of 76 seats, a request that seems motivated by a decline in US visits to Cuba of 2018.

The CRJ models would be in charge of the current routes operated by the airline, Atlanta-Havana and Miami-Havana.

The petition, points out the portal of information, transcended into a forum of the Airliners.net Commercial Aviation site. "Delta has asked the DOT for permission to use the CRJs operated by Endeavor Air and therefore respond more nimbly to fluctuations in the market's evolution," reads on the site.

According to Martí Noticias change could cause inflated bills. American tourists who decide to visit the island – not counting those of Cuban origin – fall to 98,000 during the first three months of the year against 160,000 during the same period of 2017

Data Havana Consulting Group also records United States flights to Cuba during the period: from 4,383 during this period of 2017 to 2,819 from January to March 2018, a decrease of 35.6% .

At the end of March, the Department of Transport had proposed to grant new flights to Havana to five major US airlines, after others such as "… Alaska Airlines, Spirit and Frontier have canceled their trips to the island due to weak demand.

It was then estimated that they would increase their operations in airlines of Caribbean nations such as American Airlines and Delta, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue and United.