``Just too little demand for seats,'' said John Henry Cabañas, owner of C&T Charters, which halted its usual twice-a-week flights to Cuba between Jan. 6 and 27, and will resume regular flights Jan. 28.
Airline Brokers Co. halted its usual three-times-a-week flights between Jan. 6 and Feb. 1. The flights will resume Feb. 2.
C&T and ABC will each fly one special charter Jan. 17 to accommodate the large number of journalists and U.S. church officials going to Havana for the papal visit.
Behind their decisions lies a complex skein of factors, many of them connected to the complications created by the pontiff's Jan. 21-25 visit to Cuba, his first to the communist-ruled island.
Travel from Miami to Cuba is always slow in January because many Cuban exiles schedule trips to the island in December for the Christmas holidays, ABC owner Vivian Mannerud said.
Travel was further dampened for next month by a Cuban requirement that anyone flying in from the United States from Jan. 5 to 31 undergo special visa checkups related to security for the papal visit.
Most Havana hotels have nearly doubled their room rates for the days of the pope's visit, and much of the island's meager transportation capacity is expected to be dedicated to dignitaries and the news media.
``People just don't want to be there with that kind of mess,'' Cabañas said. ``We need about 80 passengers per plane to break even, and I can't afford to fly with what we have now.''
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald