JetBlue will be first in line, as U.S. airlines begin their newly-authorized regular flights to Cuba, with service from Fort Lauderdale to Santa Clara in central Cuba on August 31st, with one-way fares starting at $99.
The service will start with three flights a week, and will ramp up to daily flights on October 1. Service to other Holguin and Camaguey will be added in November.
American Airlines, which received a large number of route awards, will start service on September 11, and is selling tickets through November. American is also offering sale prices, but not as low. American’s flights can be booked as starting in 13 different hub cities, but all connect to Cuba flights in Miami. American will fly to Cienfuegos, Holguin, Santa Clara, Varadero and Camaguey.
Both airlines, and others, will add flights to and from Havana later; because there were so many requests, the granting of routes was delayed and will become final later.
It remains to be seen how popular the flights will be. While there’s been a significant uptick in U.S. citizen visits to Cuba since the U.S. and Cuba began normalizing relations, citizens are still barred from purely tourist travel and must verify that they are traveling under one of the 12 conditions set by the U.S., including cultural exchange, education, people-to-people projects and visiting Cuban relatives.
