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On February 16, 2016, the U.S. and Cuban governments announced that the two countries have signed an arrangement that provides for the re-establishment of scheduled air services between the United States and Cuba. The new arrangement will facilitate visits for travelers that fall under one of 12 categories authorized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. There have been no scheduled flights between the United States and Cuba for over half a century.
Immediately following the signing, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued an Order [Docket: DOT-OST-2016-0021] that invited U.S. air carriers to apply for an allocation of the new opportunities to provide scheduled passenger and cargo flights for the expected 110 daily flights to Cuba and expects to award the routes by summer. It is understood that the agreement allows 20 regular daily U.S. flights to Havana, in addition to the current 10-15 charter flights a day. The rest would be to other Cuban cities as the arrangement provides each country with the opportunity to operate up to 10 daily roundtrip flights between the United States and each of Cuba’s nine other international airports. The arrangement does not limit charter services, meaning that no DOT allocation procedures are needed and charter flights can continue as before. The DOT Order initiates a proceeding for DOT to select which U.S. carriers will be able to offer scheduled flights to Cuba, and from which U.S. points. In making its selection, the Department said it will consider which proposals will offer and maintain the best service to the traveling and shipping public. DOT’s order states that applications are due March 2, 2016; answers to applications are due March 14, 2016; and replies to those answers are due March 21, 2016. Interested parties can track the progress of the case and view the publicly available documents at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2016-0021.
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