Aeroflot May Make Miami Its Gateway to Latin America

Aeroflot, the Soviet Union’s national airline, is considering dropping Havana and making Miami its gateway to Latin America, aviation officials said.

A severe shortage of fuel in Cuba, which Havana blames on a shortfall in Soviet oil supplies, is apparently a key factor, the International Business Chronicle reported.

As waning Cold War tensions introduced new opportunities for travel and commerce between the Soviet Union and the West, Aeroflot recently won permission from the United States to open a Moscow-to-Miami route, flights which could continue on to a third country.

George V. Terentiev, the airline’s commercial director in New York, described the decision as purely economic and stressed that regular Moscow-Havana service will continue.

But he said flights now routed through Havana to cities such as Managua, Nicaragua; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile, and Mexico City would be rerouted through Miami.

“Miami has more fuel companies than Havana, so we would have no problems with fuel there,” he said. He also said the flight is shorter.

The Soviet airline could start those flights next April, but they probably won’t begin until new equipment is ready in the spring of 1992, said Chris Mengos, a spokesman for the Dade County aviation department.

Mengos said Aeroflot also has begun to explore whether to move its Latin American crew changes and refueling operations to Miami from Havana.

Aeroflot’s decision comes as Miami’s Cuban exile community and reform politicians inside the Soviet Union form new ties, isolating the government of Fidel Castro from its biggest benefactor.

“Miami is very convenient for international flights,” Terentiev said. “It is a very big and very nice airport.”

The Cuban fuel crunch results from a 20% shortfall in deliveries from the Soviet Union. The shortage has already forced Aeroflot to divert flights elsewhere, Terentiev said.

There have been several recent signs of cooling economic relations between Cuba and the Soviets.