Cuba will soon be receiving increased cargo capacities, as Global Crossing Airlines Group's charter carrier, Global Crossing Airlines, will be operating an all-cargo flight with its Airbus A321 freighter from Miami to Havana. The flights are scheduled to begin in less than two weeks, with a twice-weekly schedule.
Operating on behalf of CubaMax
Global Crossing Airlines is a US part 121 domestic flag and supplemental carrier flying the Airbus A320 family aircraft. Previously, the airline operated as a passenger ACMI and charter airline serving the US, Caribbean, European, and Latin American markets.
However, Global Crossing Airlines decided to enter the ACMI cargo service this year and received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration just two days ago, on February 6th. This means that although the airline is operating the cargo flights and using its freighter, it will be flying on behalf of the Office of Foreign Assets Control-approved operator CubaMax.
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Giving Cuba the cargo capacity it requires
Cuba does not generally receive any cargo-only flights. The country typically achieves its cargo capacity through commercial airlines, such as Caribbean Airlines, offering air cargo services on scheduled passenger flights.
With CubaMax bringing in more cargo-only flights through Global Crossing Airlines, Cuba can get the cargo capacity it requires, especially in more demanding and fragile economic times. Furthermore, the planned schedule of twice-weekly flights will see the charter carrier operating more than 100 cargo flights annually to Cuba.
Ed Wegel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Crossing Airlines, emphasized:
"We are delighted to be working with CubaMax to provide two weekly cargo flights from Miami to Havana, starting February 21st. We are the first airline in the Americas to operate the A321F, and we believe this aircraft is well suited to provide this much-needed lifeline service to Havana."
Making use of the latest fleet addition
With such ambitions to operate over 100 cargo flights to Cuba annually, Global Crossing Airlines will need quite a fleet of freighters. But currently, the charter carrier only has one Airbus A321 freighter aircraft, registered N410GX.
The nearly 23-year-old freighter was delivered to Global Crossing Airlines on January 24th, after undergoing freighter conversion in Singapore by ST Aerospace last year. A second Airbus A321F, aged nearly 20 years old, is expected to arrive by mid-March and carry the registration N414GX.
A third freighter aircraft will be delivered in May and is expected to be registered N411GX. And for the remainder of this year, Global Crossing Airlines is scheduled to receive another three freighters, with an additional two next year.
Additionally, it is working to finalize leases for another five Airbus A321Fs to be delivered in the 2024-2025 time frame. With this planned fleet expansion, Global Crossing Airlines is more than capable of offering over 100 cargo flights to Cuba annually and could also be in the position to ramp up frequencies in the future.