US, Cuba near deal on restoring commercial flights

They also don’t mean that qualified travelers can just jump online and book a flight: Before that happens, there will be safety inspections and other bureaucratic requirements from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The United States and Cuba reached a preliminary agreement in Washington on Wednesday to resume direct commercial flights.

Negotiators in Washington, D.C., said they have an informal outline and plan on finalizing a lasting deal within hours or days.

The return of commercial flights appears certain to create a surge in travel that would place heavy strain on Cuba’s already overstrained tourist infrastructure.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department confirmed that progress had been made, but said the teams were still negotiating.

Most of the leading USA carriers have said publicly that they are interested in offering service to Cuba as soon as they’re allowed to do so. Those permitted to make such trips include USA residents with family members on the island, those traveling for religious or professional reasons and visitors who participate in licensed “people-to-people” organized tours with an educational bent. Among Obama’s regulatory changes this year was one permitting such travel to Cuba without specific Treasury Department permission.

Since the announcement previous year that the US would establish diplomatic relations and expand trade and tourism with Cuba, major USA airlines, including American, Delta, United, JetBlue and Southwest, have expressed interest in establishing regular flights from the U.S.to the island. He was freed in a prisoner exchange that sparked last year’s declaration of detente.

The flight deal follows other developments in recent weeks that should make traveling to, and communicating with, Cuba far easier for people in the U.S.

One year ago this week, Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced that their countries were restoring diplomatic ties, opening the door for better baseball relations between the countries. But the number of U.S. travelers who visited the island in the past year increased more than 50 percent, according to Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the top diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Havana.