US, Cuba Sign Pact To Restore Scheduled Flights

American and Cuban officials have signed a memorandum to restore scheduled air service between the two countries after half a century, setting off competition among US airlines for the best routes to the Caribbean island.

Officials announced the change in December: that the two former Cold War rivals would add scheduled commercial airline service to the current charter flights.

"For the first time in more than five decades the United States and Cuba will allow scheduled service between our two nations," US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

American travel to Cuba has boomed since US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed to improve relations in December 2014.

Shortly after the signing, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines and United Airlines each issued statements expressing interest, with the most competition expected for the 20 round-trip flights between US cities and Havana.

The deal, which officials called a memorandum of understanding, also permits up to 10 daily round-trips to each of nine other airports in Cuba.

US airlines have until March 2 to submit route applications to the Transportation Department, which will spend about a month collecting information and likely decide in the summer who can fly from which US cities to Havana.

DIPLOMATIC TIES

Washington and Havana restored diplomatic ties in July after a 54-year break, but commerce remains limited by the US trade embargo, which includes a ban on US tourism to the Communist-led island.

The Republican majority in Congress has defied Obama's call to rescind the embargo, so he has used his executive authority to relax some trade and travel restrictions.

US officials said travel has risen 54 percent since rapprochement, but Cuban data show US arrivals increased by 77 percent to 161,000 in 2015, a disparity explained by Americans breaking the tourism ban and flying to Cuba through third countries.

Legally, Americans still have to fit one of the 12 categories approved for travel, such as for educational or religious activities, but violators appear to face little risk of being prosecuted. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has not fined any Americans for visiting Cuba since Obama took office in January 2009, its database shows.