U.S.-Cuba aviation deal allows 110 scheduled flights a day

The United States and Cuba have struck a deal to allow as many as 110 regular airline flights a day, allowing a surge of American travel to Cuba that could eventually flood the island with hundreds of thousands more U.S. visitors a year, officials said Thursday, on the anniversary of detente between the Cold War foes. A year after President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro declared the end to more than 50 years of official hostility, both countries publicly say they’re delighted with the state of diplomatic relations.

We are advancing our shared interests and working together on complex issues that for too long defined and divided us.

President Obama

The deal reached Wednesday night after three days of talks in Washington opens the way for U.S. airlines to negotiate with Cuba’s government for 20 routes a day to Havana and 10 to each of Cuba’s other nine major airports, the State Department said. While it will likely be months before the first commercial flight to Havana, the reestablishment of regular aviation to Cuba after half a century will almost certainly be the biggest business development since the two countries began normalizing relations last year.

World Cuba