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Back on 10 June the US DOT began awarding US carriers permission to operate flights between the US and Cuba but, while all the routes to Cuba’s regional airports were announced, the routes to/from Havana were held back. Today the DOT announced, tentatively, that 8 US airlines will be given permission to operate non-stop services between the US and Cuba.
The US/Cuba agreement allows for 20 daily flights to Havana and 10 daily flights to nine other airports on the island. However, such is the anticipated demand for travel to Cuba, the major US airlines have submitted requests that would far exceed that quota….so there were disappointments for some today.
Cities Getting Non-Stop Services To Havana
Daily Services
Weekly Services
Cities That Didn’t Get Service
Due to the 20 daily flight restriction it wasn’t just going to be the airlines that didn’t get all their requested routes….some cities that the US airlines wanted to link with Havana were overlooked completely.
Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Washington DC all had proposed services to Havana but, per the current DOT announcement, will miss out on routes to the Cuban capital.
How Did The Airlines Do?
I’ve done my best to compile a list of what routes to Havana the major airlines requested and I’ve compared that to what the US DOT has announced today:
The biggest loser appears to have been Delta who, after requesting 14 daily flights to/from Havana, got just 3 daily flights.
American Airlines was granted the highest overall number of daily flights to Havana, tentatively winning the right to four daily flights from its Miami base and a further daily flight from the former US Airways hub in Charlotte.
JetBlue won one fewer overall daily flights but will probably be happy knowing that it will be flying to Havana from more U.S. cities than American.
The results of the DOT’s announcement today are still described as “tentative” due to the fact that the routes were so heavily contested. All the airlines will have until 22 July to submit any objections they have to the DOT’s announcement and the agency say that it will review any submissions and it “expects to reach a final decision later this summer.”
It’s worth noting that, historically, any tentative decisions made by the DOT usually end up being finalised without change.
Featured Image: Jaume Escofet via Flickr
