adambisi

DOT has deferred all applications for future service until a bilateral with Cuba is ironed out.

I don't see a lot of Cubana flights coming our way personally so assuming Open Skies or phased in flight expansion, what will B6 serve?

My predictions by 2020

HAV-JFK/FLL/TPA/MCO
May launch HAV-BOS based on watching flows through the others
VRA-JFK/FLL/seasonal BOS
CCC-JFK/FLL/seasonal BOS

dcstudent

JetBlue already flies charters out of FLL and TPA (I think). Between the amount of Cuban expats and since FLL and TPA are already focus cities/hubs for JetBlue I could see them converting those flights to regular commercial.

New York would be tough, but that hasn't stopped JetBlue before. UAL has already announced they will apply for EWR authority, and American already runs charters from JFK, I imagine they'll want to convert that to regular commercial.

deelmakur

The last time I was in Havana, the number one destination displayed on the departure screen at Jose Marti was Miami. We left on an AA charter. it had a flight number, proper boarding passes, service onboard was normal, and they even had free peanuts. We could have been flying to Tulsa. The only thing unusual was crews were not permitted to deplane in Havana. My point is, there are already many flights in operation every day, flown by regular carriers. I think the FLL flights are largely directed to Gitmo. Switching to scheduled services from public charter will primarily be a paper shuffle. There's already more capacity than they can handle, given the limited hotel situation, which is the big problem in normalizing this traffic flow. By the way, the suggestion by the media that restoring relations will take time is baloney. We have no embassy in Havana, but the so called "US Interests Section" is housed in a very large building, and functions as an embassy in all but name. We have a large diplomatic staff in place, as do the Cubans, in Washington. In addition, dozens of US flights overfly Cuba every day, on their way to the Caribbean. It saves time, and money. The Cubans are paid a fee for each flight. So much for limiting hard currency transactions. This service will be a real money maker. The flight from MIA-HAV is 40 minutes, which should allow an airline like JetBlue to complete a round trip in under 3 hours. Current fares are extortionate, as are baggage fees (ethnic Cubans usually bring large quantities of hard to get commodities). The charters are controlled by a few, well connected operators. They (not the carriers) set artificially low free bag limits, and rack up the excess weight fees. That bunch can be expected to do what it can to slow the process of establishing scheduled services. It's been a sweet deal for them.

sbm12

Huh?

N830MH

Can I ask a quick question for you? How long they will be approved? Is the restrictions is lifted? I was hoping they will start Cuba service. They won't have wait for any much longer. Hopefully they will be approved sometimes in a distant future.

deelmakur

Cuban charters leave MIA every day, primarily to Havana and Holguin. Here's a typical offering. If you scroll it, you will see that TSA has actually approved a number of different airports in Cuba. Some of these flights may be offered with B6 as the carrier. The companies bid for them. Departures are displayed on the regular MIA airport monitors:

http://www.airlinebrokers.net/schedule.php

Because of the controversial nature of Guantanamo, flights to the Navy base (code:NBW) operate from Ft. Lauderdale, where they are generally unnoticed. They use an isolated gate, and I don't believe they are posted on any departure screens (be sure to scroll down to see Guantanamo specific services):

http://flyibcair.com/other-destinati...uantanamo-bay/

deelmakur

From a recent AP article:

U.S. airlines have been quietly dipping their toes in Cuba's warm waters for years.

American Airlines dominates many of the routes to Latin America with its hub in Miami. It's run charters to Cuba for more than 15 years, according to spokeswoman Martha Pantin. It now operates 20 weekly flights from Miami to Havana, Holguin, Santa Clara and Cienfuegos and from Tampa to Havana and Holguin.

JetBlue Airways started flying Cuba charters in September 2011. It's a very small part of the airline's business; just three weekly flights on Airbus A320s with 50 to 80 customers, either to Havana or Santa Clara.

CEO David Barger told The Associated Press last year that the charters are a way of "just understanding what happens, if in fact there's a normalization."

Delta Air Lines, which operated more than 240 charter flights between October 2011 and December 2012, said it has no immediate plans to fly to Cuba. But, spokesman Anthony Black noted that "having served there through our charter operations, the groundwork has been laid for us to possibly serve the market if an opportunity becomes available."

Out of my Element

Why would they fly the A320s if it's usually "50 to 80 customers"?

FLIHGH

Yields may be great.

FWAAA

Agreed, and there may be so many checked bags that an E190 would be impractical.

deelmakur

The charter airline gets paid the same, regardless of the load. They are called charters, but they might as well be scheduled. The notion that we have somehow cut Cuba off is phony. There are many direct flights every day. In addition, we have a diplomatic presence that is as large as a normal embassy.

MileageAddict

I think DCA-HAV could be a lucrative route as there will be a huge increase in political/governmental traffic once things really open up.

N830MH

There is no customs in DCA. I think they will be at Dulles instead of DCA.

deelmakur

There are already many daily flights. Here's a selection from just one of several agencies.

http://www.abc-charters.com/pages/flights.asp

Brian Williams did his NBC Nightly News from Havana this week, and marveled that he had actually flown there on AA. The NY Times also did a front page story on the size and scope of the US Interests Section, which is an Embassy in all but name.

With a couple of million Cubans in South Florida, it's likely scheduled services will predominantly be concentrated there, as they are now.

MileageAddict

Cuba flights start Q3 2016

http://www.businesswire.com/news/hom...ights-50-Years

FLL-Santa Clara (SNU)
FLL - Camaguey (CMW)
FLL- Holguin (HOG)