Fly USA to Cuba? You Can! [Soon]

Update: American Airlines flights to Cuba are now bookable at AA.com!

Several months ago, we heard about multiple domestic airlines applying for potential routes to the country of Cuba. On Friday we heard more on some of those route applications as the US Department of Justice approved six airlines to begin flight service this fall!

The streets of Cuba…

 

Here are the airlines and specific routes approved:

 

Silver Airlines with a strong showing!

 

Airlines will have 90 days to begin service on the newly approved routes, though this most likely will occur even sooner! Expect to see the Cuban Government approve these routes rather quickly and for airlines to begin ticket sales in the coming weeks.

You will notice that the city of Havana is not one of the newly approved destinations  – this is because the US DOJ is still evaluating these applications and determining which airlines to grant the limited 20 allotted daily round-trip flights to. This explains the reason why major carriers such as Delta and United, who only applied for service routes to the city of Havana, have not been included in the recent announcement.

Havana is the prize…

 

Havana will be the most coveted destination and you can expect to see approvals coming later this summer.

Final Thought

These new routes will be the first US to Cuba commercial air travel in over 50 years. I do admit that I like the fact that US travelers will have easier access to the country of Cuba… but I realize that there are differing perspectives on the improving US – Cuba relationship, and I am purely posting from a travel perspective.

Also, while travel to Cuba seems to be getting easier, keep in mind that pure tourism is still restricted, so make sure that you do your proper research prior to taking flight!

Questions? Send them over to accountingyourpoints@yahoo.com!

Happy [Cuba-bound] Travels!

DW