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Miami Air International (LL, Miami Int'l) has filed a motion with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) opposing an emergency exemption that would allow Nolinor Aviation (N5, Montréal Trudeau) to carry out relief flights to Puerto Rico.

The Canadian operator has been transporting emergency personnel and humanitarian aid to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of a January 7 earthquake, under a contract awarded by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). On January 8, the airline applied to the DOT for emergency exemption from cabotage (ninth freedom) restrictions given the fact that flights between the mainland US and Puerto Rico, a US territory, are considered domestic operations.

Nolinor Aviation was tentatively awarded the contract through January 15, 2020. It used three B737-200(M)s, C-GNLN (msn 23050), C-GNLK (msn 20836), and C-GNLW (msn 23130), to operate from Norfolk Int'l, VA to San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

"Grant of this application is in the public interest and necessary to avoid an unusual hardship. Grant of this application is also...

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced it will suspend the authority granted to all public charter operators to serve any airport in Cuba other than Havana Int'l and impose a cap on the number of flights to the Cuban capital.

The DOT said it was taking the step at the request of the Department of State. In a letter to the Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, wrote that the ban is meant "to strengthen the impact of the Administration's policy of applying economic pressure on the Cuban regime to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all in Cuba," in particular in retaliation for Cuba's support for the regime of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

The ban on public charters to airports other than Havana will enter into force 60 days after the publication of the order, i.e. on March 10, 2020.

The DOT said it will explain the procedures regarding the capped number of flights into Havana in a separate show-cause order, which has yet to be issued....