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Cuba Flights: What Each Carrier Applied For

By Michael B. Baker / March 08, 2016 / Contact Reporter

The battle has begun for the scheduled flight slots between the United States and Cuba, which resumes later this year for the first time in decades, following a memorandum of understanding the two nations signed in February.

Carriers large and small are vying for 110 daily round-trip slots: 20 to Havana and 10 each to nine other Cuban airports. Some carriers aim to fly this summer, and the U.S. Department of Transportation "intends to reach a final decision in this matter as promptly as possible," according to its invitation for applications.

Unsurprisingly, considering its Miami hub, American Airlines' proposal is the largest filed so far, and JetBlue Airways' application also requests more than half the available Havana slots. Both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines had more modest proposals for Cuban service.

Because travel between the United States and Cuba remains restricted to certain activities, including family visits, Florida-based regional airline Silver Airways filed for several slots to connect Cuba to smaller Florida airports that serve large Cuban populations like Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Key West and Jacksonville. "Under current law and regulation, the vast majority of travelers to Cuba will come from Florida," the carrier said in its filing. "Traveling options for Florida communities must be the prime consideration in assessing the public benefits in this proceeding."

Other types of travel permitted between the United States and Cuba include government business, educational activities, humanitarian projects and professional meetings and research activities.

Here are the round-trips other carriers have asked for.

Alaska Airlines