DoT approves six US carriers for Cuba flights

The US Department of Transportation (DoT) has approved applications from six US carriers for scheduled flights to Cuba. American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Jet Blue, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines will be allowed to operate up to ten daily roundtrip flights between the US and Cuba’s nine regional airports. The US cities set to gain links are Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Philadelphia, with routes to the Cuban cities of Camagüey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara, and Santiago de Cuba. Up to 20 daily flights to Havana are also set to be approved, but with applications from airlines totalling nearly 60 flights per day, DoT says it will have to “select from among the proposals”, with a decision on routes to be announced later this summer. The US and Cuba officially signed an agreement to restore commercial air services between the two countries in February this year. transportation.gov Mark Caswell