US, Cuba to sign agreement on restarting commercial flights

USA airlines still must apply for permission from US regulators to fly specific routes before they sell tickets to Cuba.

The US deputy assistant secretary of state for transportation affairs, Thomas Engle, characterised the agreement, which will be signed in Havana next week, as “a very positive development”.

A total of 110 daily flights from the United States to Cuba will be authorized under the agreement to be signed Tuesday, the terms of which were agreed to in December.

Starting Tuesday, U.S. airlines will have 15 days to submit proposals to the Transportation Department to fly as many as 100 flights daily to Cuba, with competition expected for at least the routes to Havana, officials announced Friday.

The Obama administration is eager to make rapid progress on building trade and diplomatic ties with Cuba before the president leaves office.

The U.S. government will now open the bidding so airlines can make their offers, a process that for the moment will exclude Cubana de Aviacion until it receives authorization from the Treasury Department, and will award the permits to cover these routes next summer. “Flights will begin later this year in calendar fall”. The remaining flights will be to other Cuban airports.

“We look forward to establishing scheduled service to Cuba in 2016 from Miami and our other hubs”, said Martha Pantin, an American spokeswoman.

The increase in travelers from the United States and other countries over the past year has overwhelmed Cuba’s tourism infrastructure, with Havana’s airport barely able to keep up with current demand and many hotel rooms booked solid months in advance.

“We’re well positioned and look forward to the opportunity to begin scheduled service to Cuba”, American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said.

Commercial flights between Cuba and the United States were cancelled 53 years ago but since the mid-1970s authorized charter flights have been allowed under certain conditions.

CNN is told there are no plans in the near future for Cuban-owned planes to land in the USA under this agreement.