Silver Airways (3M, Fort Lauderdale International) and American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) have become the first US carriers to open reservations for their maiden scheduled flights to Cuba.
The two carriers are part of a group of six that were each granted authority to serve the Cuban towns of Camagüey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo del Sur, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo Sierra Maestra, Santa Clara de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, and Varadero (also known as Matanzas) by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) last week.
As such, from its Fort Lauderdale International hub, Silver Airways will serve: Santa Clara starting September 1, 2016 (three weekly flights); Camagüey starting October 13, 2016 (five weekly flights); Cienfuegos starting October 21, 2016 (two weekly flights); Holguín starting October 27, 2016 (daily); Santiago starting November 3, 2016 (daily); Cayo Coco starting November 17, 2016 (three weekly flights); Varadero starting December 2, 2016 (four weekly flights); Cayo Largo starting December 10, 2016 (one weekly flight); and Manzanillo starting December 16, 2016 (three weekly flights).
American, on the other hand, will serve the following destinations from its Miami International hub: Cienfuegos starting September 7, 2016 (one daily flight); Holguin starting September 7, 2016 (two daily flights); Camaguey starting September 9, 2016 (one daily flight); Santa Clara starting September 9, 2016 (two daily flights); and Varadero starting September 11, 2016 (two daily flights).
Frontier Airlines (F9, Denver International), Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field), Sun Country Airlines (SY, Minneapolis St. Paul International), and JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK) are all expected to open their own reservations for flights in due course.
Under the new Cuba-US bilateral accord, each country can operate up to ten daily return flights between the US and each of Cuba’s nine international airports, other than Havana, for a total of ninety daily return flights.
The allocation of Havana International traffic rights will only be made later this summer given excess demand. The DOT states that while the accord provides for up to twenty daily return flights between the US and Havana, US carriers have collectively requested nearly sixty flights per day to Havana, thus requiring the Department to select from among the proposals.
