The travel industry has been on a wild ride this year, and travel, in general, has been lower than expected. Looking at U.S. airline traffic data for April 2025 from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, “U.S. airlines carried 80.4 million systemwide scheduled service passengers in April 2025.” They add that “when adjusted for seasonality, April enplanements are down 2.2% from March and down 4.0% from the all-time high reached in December 2024.”
So, travel is down, and that means routes are getting adjusted. Other routes are getting changed not due to lack of demand but because of other reasons, too.
Now, United Airlines is planning to suspend a route starting this September.
According to a piece published on July 23 by Luke Diaz of Simply Flying, “As politics increasingly influence the global aviation network, United Airlines has notified the United States Department of Transportation that it will suspend its sole service route between Cuba and the U.S. this September.”
Diaz adds that the move comes after the current administration’s signing of the National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM), signed on June 30, 2025. ‘The hardline travel policy states intent to ‘restore and strengthen’ the U.S. government’s position against Cuba,” reversing the previous administration’s policy that eased restrictions, according to Diaz.
Flights between Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and Havana’s José Martà International Airport (HAV) will officially stop on September 2, 2025, according to Aviation Week.
“In a filing to the DOT, United said that it would use seasonal flexibility already granted by the department to pause service through the end of the winter 2025-26 season,” David Casey of Aviation Week states in a July 22 feature. “However, the airline also requested a formal waiver of dormancy conditions—if deemed necessary—to preserve its rights to resume the route no later than the start of the summer 2026 season.”
So, United Airlines wants the right to resume the route at some point, but so far, it’s just being cut without a return date.
Related: United Airlines Makes Historic Announcement
United Airlines Suspending Major Route first appeared on Men’s Journal on Jul 24, 2025
