The lovely Palacio Azul in Cienfuegos, a tiny Cuban city set for nonstop flights from the US (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
The U.S. Transportation Department has issued a long-awaited decision awarding U.S. airlines new route authority to fly to Cuba, but it left out one major destination.
Several U.S. carriers had applied for as much route authority as they thought they could handle, anticipating a boom in U.S. travel to the island nation following the Obama Administration’s decision to open up relations with Cuba. In its decision Friday, DOT gave its approval to six U.S. carriers, five U.S. cities and nine Cuban destinations for new air service beginning as soon as this fall.
But the Cuban capital of Havana was not among the cities listed. And Havana is the big prize.
The U.S.-Cuba aviation pact provides for each country to operate up to 10 daily roundtrips between the U.S. and Cuba’s nine airports other than Havana, or a maximum total of 90 flights a day. Over the longer term, it also allows up to 20 daily roundtrips between the U.S. and Havana.
DOT said the requests it received from U.S carriers for Havana rights totaled almost 60 flights a day – too many to sort through for the initial route awards. “A decision on the Havana routes will be announced later this summer,” DOT said.
Related: Curious about traveling in Cuba? Then read this!
Cathedral in central Santiago, Cuba’s second largest city, and one I’d definitely fly back to, is getting new nonstops from the US (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
In its initial decision, DOT designated Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Philadelphia for scheduled service to the Cuban cities of Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba. U.S. carriers winning route authority included American, Frontier, JetBlue, Silver Airways, Southwest and Sun Country.
Notably absent from this list: Delta and United, which we expect to be on the list for Havana flights.
In the wake of DOT’s announcement, American Airlines said it expects to begin scheduled flights in September from its Miami hub to five of the destinations, while JetBlue plans to launch service to three Cuban destinations from Ft. Lauderdale.
As of now, there is still no word on how much it might cost jump on a commercial flight to Cuba. Flights on the current charter flights are in the $500 range, roundtrip.
While most Caribbean islands have just one international airport, Cuba is a much larger place – it’s 750 miles long, with a population of 11 million – and has built up some tourism infrastructure over the years, mostly accommodating visitors from Canada and Europe.
Are you planning to visit Cuba in the next year? Why or why not? Please leave your comments below.
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Took the cruise to Cuba. That’s the way to go for now. The “some tourism infrastructure” listed in the article is really the beach resorts American’s still can’t go to. In Havana, other than the two Meila hotels and maybe the Hotel Nacional, accommodations are mediocre at best.
I travel regularly to Cuba on a religious visa. Can’t wait until I can do it on a regular airline. A Cuban friend is coming here in September; hope American is up and running by then.
My guess is that the West Coast will get flights to Havana… but probably only LAX-Havana.
I was gong to go on a baseball-themed trip but the travel agency had no apparent prior experience and i like to do research on a company before forking out $12,000. Regarding the routes–I’m disappointed there are no flights from the west coast –Minneapolis but not SF or LA???
Went to Cuba on a people-to-people tour in early 2014. Was only in Havana and its suburbs. It was a great trip! Delightful people and a beautiful country. Would recommend going before it changes too much.
Okay, I need to adjust my comment. I have read posts from many in the past few days as if the flights existed. This particular post did NOT indicate that and was more honest in the reporting. My apologies and a positive nod to this site for being upfront. Any negative comments should have been directed to the DOT for their inability to sort through this and award the Havana slots.
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Please reread post
The whole announcement was a joke. And bloggers like this made it worse. NONE of the airlines have actually announced they are flying to any of the airports. And, the DOT seems to think it will take months to announce the flights to Havana. Come on folks, get real.
Good point!