U.S. airlines are looking to serve Cuba primarily from their large hub cities, with Havana being the most popular destination, according to AP. At least eight carriers submitted applications to the U.S. Department of Transportation Wednesday outlining what routes they would like to fly. The government will spend the next few months reviewing the requests and is expected to award the contested Havana routes this summer. Flights to smaller cities, if uncontested and lacking any contentious issues, could be approved much sooner. Once routes are awarded, airlines will still need time to develop schedules and actually sell seats on the flights. And while the U.S. government will set the routes, airlines will also need to apply to Cuba's civil aviation authority for a permit to operate in the country. All flights operating between the two countries today are charters, but an agreement signed between the two nations last month allows for up to 110 additional flights, more than five times the current charter operations. Only 20 of those flights can go to Havana, in addition to the current 10 to 15 charter flights a day. The rest would fly to other Cuban cities.
