Would like to know if airlines overfly Cuba on their way to destinations South. For example, I'm planning a trip from Tampa to Grand Cayman. The auto router shows a route over Cuba. Is this legal?Dave Vega

You will need to find out if Cuba is a Contracting State of the ICAO Chicago Convention. If so then any aircraft of any other contracting state can overly the lands/territories of any other contracting state once the aircraft in question holds a valid Certificate of Airworthiness issued by an authorised body of the Contracting State.Certificate of Airworthiness shows that the aircraft is maintained in accordance with prescribed procedures that are usually set out in a Scheduled Maintenance programme approved by the authorised body, etc etc etc.........(editted to add the following paragraph)Just checked on the ICAO site, Cuba is listed as a contracting state (as of Jun 2002 and I doubt Cuba has removed itself in that time) so yes a US airline (or any airline of any contracting state) can overfly Cuba.http://www.icao.int/icao/en/members.htmCountries that are not Contracting States would need to either:a) Register the aircraft (that needs to overfly the lands/territories of a Contracting State) with the approved registration marking of a Contracting State. (In layman's term East Timor would have to get the aircraft registered in Australia).:( Seek permission first from the Contracting State to overfly their lands/territories and this is such a lengthy process (requiring ratification of all maintenance carried out, checking the radio facility, required documentation, etc etc etc) that it would have been easier to get it registered by a Contracting State in the first place.Suitably confused yet? I can go on.PanMan

Hi Dave,Here's the real world flightplan of Cayman Airways, that's going straight through the Havana (MUFH) FIR. :)CAY201 KTPA-MWCR B73A/M EOBT/1905 TTL_EET/0140N0430F330 DCT GIRLE J41 RSW DCT MTH G448 TADPO/N0425350 G448 GCM DCTFlying through Cuban airspace is legal (even for US registered airliners) when:- You are able to "establish and maintain communications with Havana CTA/FIR 10 minutes prior to airspace entry".- You have a "flightplan on file with Havana CTA/FIR at least 1 hour prior to airspace entry".- You can (and must) "adhere strictly to Cuban requirements for overflight of their territory".Kind regards,Koen

Thank you Koen. Most informative. Dave Vega

Thank you PanMan. This stuff can indeed cause a headache. Dave Vega