Those eight are: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines.
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American and Southwest Airlines both got tentative federal government approval today to start commercial flights to Cuba.
The Department of Transportation said the airlines proposed for the service would share 20 round-trip flights a day already approved by the two governments.
Under the tentative plan announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation, United Airlines, the dominant carrier at Newark Liberty International Airport, was selected as one of eight airlines to fly daily to the Cuban capital. Airlines applied for almost triple the 20 daily round-trips that Cuba and the United States agreed to allow.
Other airlines similarly said they expected to begin sales this summer and launch service in the fall.
In December of 2014, Obama restored diplomatic ties with Cuba, after more than a half century since Washington severed relations with Havana following the 1959 Cuban revolution. With almost three decades of worldwide service from Los Angeles, in addition to Havana, Alaska Airlines offers nonstop service to nine destinations in Latin America.
The agreement is possible due to an agreement the countries signed February 16 allowing scheduled air service to resume after more than 50 years.
“Reopening travel relations with Cuba is about more than just restoring the freedom to travel there for all Americans it’s about opening Cuba to new ideas, new values, and improved human rights that our 50-year-old policy of isolation could not achieve”, said Sen. United will fly from Newark, N.J., and Houston under the proposal.
Alaska Airlines, for example, received approval for a route from Los Angeles to Cuba, KIRO Radio travel expert Steve Danishek says. Four of the flights originate in Florida. The United States travel embargo now does not allow Americans to visit Cuba strictly for tourism – US citizens are permitted to travel to Cuba if they fall under 12 approved categories, such as family visits, education, journalism and humanitarian projects.
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Ofelia Gutierrez of North Bergen, owner of Costamar Travel Agency on 39th Street in Union City, said she expects that when commercial flights resume, her business of providing reservations for Cubans going to the island to visit family will grow.
