• Submitted by: Camila
• Business and Economy
• 02 / 05 / 2015

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At least five US airlines (American Airlines, United, JetBlue, Southwest and Delta) want to offer in the near future direct commercial flights to the island.

Recent talks between Cuba and the United States continues to arouse the interest of economic sectors that could benefit from improvement of bilateral relations between the two countries.

"United has plans to launch a service to Cuba, subject to government approval, from Houston and Texas, where the airline has its largest centers of international connections," said Rahsaan Johnson, a spokesman for United Airlines.

In JetBlue declare "impatient" to launch commercial flights from several US cities to the island. American Airlines and Southwest are also interested if it is legal to do so.

Sen. Jeff Flake, co-author of a bill in the Senate to remove travel restrictions to Cuba for Americans, estimated that airlines can provide this service "within a year".

Currently the flights from the US to Cuba are closely regulated by the Treasury Department and the Department of Transportation United States.

Some airlines - American Airlines, Delta, Sky King and JetBlue- operate direct charter flights to Cuba, but they can only travel in a limited number of persons authorized by Washington.

Source: CubaDebate