Cuba Considers Closing Airspace to All U.S. Flights
Cuba is studying the possibility of closing its airspace to all U.S. planes because of continued American pressure over the two civilian planes shot down by Cuban jet fighters on Feb. 24, a Foreign Relations Ministry spokeswoman said Thursday.
Other measures also are being studied, Marianela Ferriol said during her weekly news conference, but she declined to specify what they are.
Prohibiting U.S. planes from flying over Cuba would lengthen flights for planes going from the United States to parts of the Caribbean and South America, requiring them to use more fuel for such trips.
Previously, Cuban officials stated they had considered closing off air corridors and prohibiting private planes from landing at the airport near Varadero Beach resort outside the capital to discourage unauthorized flights into their airspace by planes taking off from Florida.
Cuban officials had not mentioned punitive measures against the United States until National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon spoke late Wednesday of the possibility of closing off Cuban airspace.
He spoke in Montreal, where he attended a session of the council of the International Civil Air Organization, which decided Wednesday to investigate Cuba’s shoot-down of the two planes.
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