Twelve U.S airlines have applied for
federal approval to fly to Cuba when commercial service between the countries
resumes, likely later this year.
Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier,
JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country and United — as well as the
Florida-based regional carrier Silver Airways, North Carolina-based Dynamic
International Airways and upstart charter carrier Eastern Air Lines — all submitted
their applications ahead of the Tuesday evening deadlines.
Under the agreement reached between
the U.S. and Cuba last month, the DOT can approve up to 20 daily flights in and
out of Havana, as well as up to 10 daily flights each in and out of nine other
Cuban destinations.
Competition for the Havana routes
looks to be strong. Carriers have submitted applications
for 50 daily routes to Cuba’s capital as well as 16 less-than-daily routes
from a total of 19 U.S. cities.
Unsurprisingly, the highest
concentration of applications, both for Havana routes and for smaller Cuban
destinations, is for service from South Florida. American applied for 10 daily
flights between Miami and Havana, while Delta, Eastern and Frontier are also
seeking to serve the Miami-Havana market.
JetBlue, Southwest,
Spirit and Silver applied for a total of 13 daily routes between Fort
Lauderdale and Havana.
The nine other Cuban cities to which
U.S. carriers have applied to provide service are Santa Clara, Holguin,
Santiago, Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Manzanillo, Cienfuegos, Cayo Largo and the
resort town of Varadero.
Along with from Miami and Fort
Lauderdale, carriers have applied to serve Cuba from the Florida cities of Fort Myers,
Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, Palm Beach and Key West; Atlanta; Denver; Chicago;
Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Newark; New York Kennedy; Boston; and
Charlotte.
American, JetBlue and Silver applied
for the most Cuba flight allocations. Along with applying for 10 daily
Miami-Havana flights, American applied to fly eight other daily Miami-Cuba
routes to smaller destinations.
JetBlue applied for a total of 12
daily flights to Havana, with New York, Newark, Orlando, Tampa and Boston joining
its Fort Lauderdale applications. The carrier also applied for daily
trips from Fort Lauderdale to three other Cuban destinations.
Most surprising, perhaps, is small
Silver Airways, which hopes to serve Havana from Jacksonville, Fort Myers,
Key West and West Palm Beach, as well as from Fort Lauderdale. The carrier has
also applied for flights from Fort Lauderdale into each of the nine other
eligible Cuban destinations. Silver would fly many of those routes on a less-than-daily basis.
The DOT is expected to decide this
summer which airlines will fly to the various Cuban destinations, and from
where.