United Airlines Express (Mesa Airlines) Obtains Houston-Havana Flights; United Seeks Delay For Newark-Havana Flights; American Airlines, JetBlue Airways Gain Flights

UPDATE: WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - “The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) on Tuesday said it would allow Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and United Airlines (UAL.O) to temporarily delay resuming flights to Cuba as they work to address logistical issues. United last month said it has been working for months to relaunch Havana service but faces hurdles, while Delta also said it was facing issues in reestablishing service. USDOT said it would require United to resume service no later than Dec. 1 and Delta no later than March 26.”

United Airlines: “Prior to its suspension of service due to COVID-19 pandemic, United operated at Terminal 2. United has previously worked successfully with the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C. on visa related matters; however, United must now obtain visas from the Camara de Comercio in Havana. This creates additional challenges as United does not have any in-country representative on a regular basis who can handle and manage visa applications to the Camara and would be immediately available to retrieve visas once they are issued.”

LINKS:
Motion Of United Airlines (USDOT) (9/21/22)
Notice Of Action Taken (USDOT)- American Airlines & JetBlue Airways (9/19/22)
Notice Of Action Taken (USDOT)- Mesa Airlines (9/16/22)
Order Partially Extending Temporary Waivers (USDOT) (9/2/22)

WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - United Airlines (UAL.O) said on Wednesday it is working to resume flights to Cuba later this year that it suspended in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chicago-based U.S. airline said it has been working for months to relaunch service but faces hurdles. It asked the U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) for a waiver for 30 additional days as it works to resume service.

United previously flew seven flights weekly to Havana from its Houston and Newark hubs. United said it needs to "undertake significant work including re-negotiating multiple contracts with service providers that have lapsed, building out necessary infrastructure in Terminal 3 at Havana’s airport where United is being relocated." United said given the challenges it is concerned it cannot resume flights by an Oct. 31 USDOT deadline.

On Monday, the Biden administration agreed to expand U.S. flights to Havana, adding 13 weekly American Airlines (AAL.O) departures from Miami and a weekly JetBlue Airways (JBLU.O) departure from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That is on top of the typical six daily American Airlines flights and three JetBlue flights weekdays to Havana from the Florida airports.

In June, USDOT lifted a series of restrictions on flights to Cuba imposed under former President Donald Trump, including ending a prohibition on U.S. airline flights to smaller Cuban airports outside Havana. At the time, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the action was "in support of the Cuban people, and in the foreign policy interests of the United States." The Trump administration had barred passenger airline flights to smaller Cuban airports. In July, American Airlines received permission to resume service to some smaller Cuban airports. American sought approval for flights from Miami to Santa Clara, Holguin, Matanzas/Varadero and Santiago de Cuba.

Simple Flying
St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada
22 September 2022

This week, the DOT approved the application of American Airlines and JetBlue to increase their weekly number of commercial services between the United States and Cuba. Both companies are now able to offer up to 14 additional weekly flights to the Caribbean country.

By November, it is expected there will be up to 21 weekly flights between both countries, offered by four US carriers, American Airlines, JetBlue, United Airlines (pending the possible waiver), and Southwest.

American Airlines will fly from Miami International Airport to Camagüey (CMW), Havana (HAV), Holguín (HOG), Santiago de Cuba (SCU), Santa Clara (SNU), and Varadero (VRA), offering up to 84 weekly flights. JetBlue will fly to Havana from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and New York (JFK) with up to 20 weekly flights. Southwest will fly to Havana from Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, with up to 29 weekly flights. United expects to operate 14 weekly services to Havana from Newark and Houston.

Compared to November 2017, there are 15.0% fewer flights scheduled from the United States to Cuba (although only 1.3% fewer seats are available). Using data from Cirium, there are ten routes still inactive and two carriers that have not announced their plans to resume connectivity to Cuba, these being Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines.