Havana-bound
The U.S. Transportation Department tentatively approved flights from 10 cities to Havana, Cuba, by eight airlines. Here is a breakdown of carriers and cities:
Alaska: Los Angeles
American: Miami and Charlotte, N.C.
Delta: Atlanta, New York and Miami
Frontier: Miami
JetBlue: New York, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando
Southwest: Fort Lauderdale and Tampa
Spirit: Fort Lauderdale
United: Newark, N.J., and Houston
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Atlanta is close to getting its first scheduled airline flights to Cuba in decades.
Delta Air Lines on Thursday received tentative federal approval to launch flights to Havana from Atlanta, New York and Miami. The airline plans to start selling seats this summer, with flights launching this fall, subject to Cuban regulatory approval.
The service will be the Atlanta-based carrier’s first daily nonstop scheduled flights to Cuba since 1961, when the airline stopped its service between New Orleans and Cuba amid “political instability and profitability issues,” according to the carrier.
Delta was among eight airlines that won tentative approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin Havana flights from 10 U.S. cities as early as this fall.
Other cities tentatively getting Havana flights are Charlotte; Houston; Los Angeles; Newark, N.J.; and three other Florida cities besides Miami: Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa. Fort Lauderdale and Miami, home to the nation’s largest population of Cuban-Americans, are the biggest winners, with six daily flights each by three carriers.
In addition to Delta, carriers approved for flights were JetBlue Airways and Alaska, American, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit and United airlines.
“Restoring regular air service holds tremendous potential to reunite Cuban American families and foster education and opportunities for American businesses of all sizes,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a written statement.
Foxx said approval of the routes won’t be final until later this summer, after a public comment period.
Delta in recent years operated some charter flights to Cuba, but the Obama Administration has opened the door to regularly scheduled airline flights to Cuba as part of re-established diplomatic relations with the nation.
In Delta’s biggest recent foray into Cuba, the carrier operated up to a dozen combined flights a week from Miami, Atlanta and New York, but suspended service in late 2012 after nearly 500 flights in a little more than a year, partly due to a lack of traveler demand.
With fewer travel restrictions, airline officials hope to see much higher demand for daily flights to Cuba.
Atlanta-based Delta is “working diligently to address the unique logistical challenges to reestablishing daily scheduled Havana service,” said Nicolas Ferri, Delta’s vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean.
With the restart of scheduled airline service between the two countries, U.S. visitors to Cuba must still qualify under one of 12 categories authorized by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
But the Obama administration has eased rules to the point where travelers are free to design their own “people-to-people” cultural exchange tours with little oversight.
Airlines also are working to simplify the paperwork by revamping their reservation systems to allow passengers to select one of the 12 permitted categories. They include family visits, official business, educational or religious activities.
Last month, the DOT approved routes to nine other cities in Cuba, but excluded Havana, Cuba’s capital and most populous city.
Delta had only targeted Havana for new service, seeking routes from New York, Atlanta, Miami and Orlando.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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