Airlines to add scheduled passenger service to Cuba

The U.S. Department of Transportation has invited U.S. air carriers to apply to offer passenger and cargo flights between the two countries.

Currently, charter flights are the only ones operating between Cuba and the U.S. Some airlines had already offered charter flights prior to the agreement, including American Airlines, which has offered charter flights since April 1991.

According to government sources quoted in the US media, the new arrangement will permit up to 20 flights daily between Havana and various USA cities, and another 10 to other worldwide airports inside Cuba.

The government officials in the US and Cuba have officially agreed to allow commercial flights to resume between the two countries. The accord became official after it was signed by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, as well as officials from the U.S. State Department, the Cuban Ministry of Transportation and the Cuban Civil Aviation Institute. Those flights will continue, but new scheduled service should make Cuba more widely accessible. USA travelers are still technically prohibited from visiting Cuba for tourism, travel under 12 categories is, however, permitted.

The US has imposed a crippling embargo on Cuba since late 1960, nearly two years after Fidel Castro led a revolution against of US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.

“Today is a historic day in the relationship between Cuba and the USA”, said Foxx.

American’s Latin America gateway hub at Miami International Airport (MIA) will be included in the company’s application for scheduled service to Cuba.

Recently the Obama administration also approved the first United States factory in Cuba in more than half a century.

Shortly after the signing, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines and United Airlines issued statements expressing interest in launching new services.

Applications are due March 2, and the DOT says it will have decisions made by March 14.

And this signing of a memorandum of understanding on commercial flights between the old enemies is a good example of that new impetus.

“There’s no restriction on aircraft type or aircraft size, and so we expect to see additional analysis on what folks view the overall travel demand and traffic patterns between certain United States cities and certain United States regions to Cuba”, said Brandon Belford, deputy assistant secretary for aviation and worldwide affairs at the Transportation Department.