Fifty-five years after direct flights from the United States to Havana, Cuba was embargoed as a result of political instability between the United States of America (USA) and Cuba, Delta Air Lines has concluded arrangements to resume flight services to Havana.
The carrier said it would service this route from New York-JFK, Atlanta and Miami.
The disclosure was made by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). This is coming as the American carrier lauded the DOT for awarding the airline the ability to resume operating daily, nonstop scheduled service to the Caribbean island for the first time in almost 55 years.
It would be recalled that Delta inherited passenger service to Havana, Cuba, from its merger with Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S) on May 1, 1953, offering nonstop flights from New Orleans.
Political instability and profitability issues ultimately led Delta to suspend service on December 1, 1961. From 2002-2004 Delta operated charters between New York-JFK and Havana.
In October 2011, Delta began operating up to a dozen charter flights to Havana per week with daily service from Miami and weekly service from Atlanta and New York-JFK. It operated almost 500 trips before suspending service on Dec. 29, 2012.
Recently, in 2015, Delta performed three ad hoc charter flights including one that carried the Minnesota Orchestra back to Cuba for its first performance on the island in more than 85 years.
“Today has been a long-awaited moment to celebrate Delta’s historic return to Cuba, and we thank Secretary Foxx, his team and the other U.S. officials for granting us the authority to provide
Havana service from Atlanta, Miami and New York,” said Nicolas Ferri, Delta’s Vice President – Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We look forward to providing the market with excellent customer and operational performance that will reunite families and support a new generation of travelers seeking to engage and explore this truly unique destination.
“Additionally, I’d like to commend the effort of our cross-divisional teams at Delta, who are working diligently to address the unique logistical challenges to reestablishing daily scheduled Havana service.”
All routes are subject to Cuban regulatory approval. Delta will begin selling seats to Havana this summer.
Ifeoma Okeke
