American, JetBlue and Delta want to offer more flights to Cuba

Media reports said that American Airlines has submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) seeking approval to launch seven weekly flights services between Havana’s José Martí International Airport and Miami International Airport. JetBlue Airways had earlier April this year applied to the DOT for approval of Fort Lauderdale-Havana and Boston-Havana routes. The airline wants to launch six time weekly flights between Havana and Fort Lauderdale and once weekly flight between Boston and Havana, on Saturdays. Delta Air Lines also wants to seven weekly flights between Havana and Miami, and had applied to the DOT.

The reports further stated that if the DOT is finally going to grant approval then American Airlines would be launching flights on the new Havana-Miami route effective from October 5, 2017, and would deploy a 160-seat Boeing 737 aircraft to serve the two destinations. Similarly, JetBlue Airways would also launch flights to Cuba starting from November 1 this year with the help of a 162-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. The slots for the new routes have been vacated after Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Silver Airways decided to completely stop serving Cuba from June 4 onwards this year.

The Cuban destinations being currently served by American Airlines include Havana, Varadero, Santa Clara, Camagüey, Cienfuegos and Holguín. The airline is serving daily flights on these routes from Miami. JetBlue Airways is also operating 13-times weekly flights services between Havana and Fort Lauderdale, while Delta Air Lines is serving Havana with once daily service. Travel experts said that Havana routes are proving to be profitable, while flights to other Cuban destinations have been either completely stopped or curtailed because of weak travel demand.