Flood of Cuba scheduled flight applications received from US carriers

Subsequent to the recent agreement between the US and Cuba to resume scheduled flights between the two countries, the US government received applications from the four major US carriers and a number of smaller airlines on March 2, all seeking official authorization to fly non-stop services to Cuba. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, independents Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and Silver Airways will all now be vying for a limited slot availability.
Services should recommence in the late summer or early fall this year. Initially there will be 20 daily round-trip flights between the US and Havana and 10 daily round-trip flights to nine other Cuban cities that will be allocated to US airlines. However, general US tourist travel to Cuba is still prohibited and current changes are aimed at easing the process for travelers who fall under one of the 12 categories authorized by the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Of the “big four”, United has applied to fly 11 roundtrip flights each week to Havana, including a daily service from New York plus one additional Saturday flight (eight weekly flights), and a Saturday flight from Houston George Bush Intercontinental, Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare (three weekly flights).
Delta is aiming for daily flights to Havana from Atlanta, New York JFK, Miami and Orlando, while Southwest will fly to Havana from Fort Lauderdale, Tampa Bay and Orlando, as well as to Varadero and Santa Clara from Fort Lauderdale. American is hoping for 10 flights to Havana from Miami along with flights to Havana from Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Chicago. American’s proposal also includes daily service between Miami and five other Cuban cities – Santa Clara, Holguin, Varadero, Camaguey and Cienfuegos.
Barack Obama, the US President, is due to visit Cuba on March 21-22, which will be the first sitting US President to visit the country in 88 years as part of attempts to restore full diplomatic relations.