Over time, up to 20 daily roundtrip flights are expected between the US and Havana, with a decision on those routes expected later this summer. Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced it had cleared six American carriers to begin daily scheduled flights to nine destinations on the Caribbean island nation as early as this fall.
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Frontier officials who were in St Augustine two months ago to celebrate the resumption of weekly flights to the two new destinations, are not saying what role, if any, St Augustine will play in their Cuban flight program.
Flights approved Friday are to nine cities in Cuba other than Havana, where air travel falls under a separate agreement between the countries and is expected to begin this summer.
USA officials say the airlines are now positioned to seek Cuban government authority and begin making the local arrangements necessary to launch their services.
The department said it approved every route proposal outside Havana except for those of charter operator Eastern Airlines. While charter flights have been allowed for years, the announcement resumes scheduled airline flights. American is the only of the so-called “Big Three” U.S. airlines on the list, so far. The airlines authorized by DOT still must get approval from the Cuban government and make local arrangements with airports to begin service.
Despite the resumption of direct commercial flights, USA citizens are still prohibited by the embargo from carrying out tourism in Cuba; thus the number that will be allowed to travel to the island will remain a limited number of people under the dozen categories permitted under “people to people” travel.
Strong demand will come from Cuban-Americans visiting relatives, leisure travelers desiring a once off-limits experience, and executives paying for business-class fares to evaluate commercial opportunities, experts said. “You can’t just wake up one day and say “oh, I want to go to Cuba today” and head to the airport”. In a phone interview, Bewley said Silver’s round trip tickets may cost around $300. Lauderdale, Chicago, Philadelphia and Minneapolis.
The nine Cuban cities where flights will now be made to and from are Camagüey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.
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American Airlines said customers should expect competitive pricing.
