Aircraft at the international airport Jose Marti in Havana (Photo: Enrique de la Osa / Reuters)
The governments of Cuba and the United States signed on Tuesday (16) in Havana a memorandum of understanding on civil aviation which includes direct scheduled routes for the first time in over 50 years, which will be operative from the last quarter of this year.
"Today is a historic day in the relationship between Cuba and the United States. We are signing this memorandum of understanding for the first time in more than five decades, the United States and Cuba have a scheduled air transport service," said the Cuban capital the Secretary American Transport, Anthony R. Foxx, according to EFE.
Under the agreement, airlines may operate daily 110 outbound flights back and forth between the US and Cuba : 20 of them bound for Havana and up to 10 for each of the other nine Cuban international airports. According to the Associated Press, the number is five times higher than the flights that currently circulate between the two countries - all charter.
Besides Foxx, have signed this agreement Minister of Cuba Transport, Adel Yzquierdo, Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Department of State, Charles H. Rivkin; and the chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Institute of the island, Alfredo Cordero.
With the signing of the agreement tomorrow will open the bidding process for US airlines to present their requests to the Department of Transport for the routes they would like to operate.
According to EFE, the bidding process excludes state Cubana de Aviación due to disputes in the US that could make their goods were embargoed if they come into American territory.
Also in Washington, the US Department of Homeland Security also announced on Tuesday that will remove the legal barriers that weigh on flights to Cuba, which before could only depart or arrive by 22 airports, but that will now be subject to the same rules than any other international flight.
