Ft. Worth (WBAP/KLIF News) – Airlines in the United States have finalized their proposals to start offering flights to Cuba. The deadline to submit plans to the Department of Transportation arrived this week.
The Department of Transportation will allow 110 daily flights to Cuba starting later this year. Twenty flights will be permitted into Havana. Ten flights will be scheduled into Cuba’s nine other international airports.
Dallas-based Southwest has proposed 12 daily flights, all of which would take off from Florida. Six would run from Ft. Lauderdale to Havana, two from Tampa to Havana and one from Orlando to Havana.
Southwest would also run three flights from Ft. Lauderdale to other locations in Cuba.
“We’re ready to add Cuba to our route map and offer this emerging market Southwest’s low fares, bags fly free with no change fees, and our legendary customer service,” Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly wrote in a statement this week. “We carry more Florida travelers and more U.S. passengers every day than any other airline.”
American Airlines would fly 13 daily flights to Havana and two flights once a week. American would run eight daily flights to other cities in Cuba.
American has proposed ten daily flights to Havana from Miami but also would run one daily flight from DFW. American’s daily service would also include a flight from Charlotte and Los Angeles. The weekly service would originate from Los Angeles and Chicago.
“In many ways, American has been preparing for this day for decades,” Chief Executive Doug Parker writes in a statement.
American has operated charter flights to Cuba since 1991.
Southwest and American could begin service to Cuba later this year.
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