WASHINGTON — Flights between Havana, Cuba and Dulles International Airport are among the routes being considered for approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The U.S. and Cuba agreed last December to allow commercial airline service between the two countries for the first time in more than a half-century.
Airlines filed applications March 2 to be considered to provide those flights.
“There are many capital to capital flights from Washington Dulles to capitals in countries around the world,” says Rob Yingling, a spokesman with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. “Adding Havana to that would be a great fit.”
United Airlines is asking for Saturday-only flights to Havana, but Yingling says the airport can handle whatever the future may bring.
“The airport was built to operate at a much higher capacity than it handles today,” Yingling observes.
“The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is home to the nation’s tenth-largest Cuban-American population,” according to United Airlines.
Only 20 U.S. roundtrip flights a day will have access to the Cuban capital. Cuba has nine other international airports that U.S. carriers can serve with 10 daily roundtrip flights.
The feds expect to decide sometime this summer which airlines will be authorized for flights to Cuba and which specific markets they will serve.
