Scheduled U.S. cargo flights to Cuba on horizon

The United States and Cuba entered an agreement on Tuesday to reestablish scheduled air cargo and passenger services between the two countries.    The United States and Cuba entered an agreement on Tuesday to reestablish scheduled air cargo and passenger services between the two countries.
   There have been no scheduled flights between the two countries in more than 50 years.
   The deal was signed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles Rivkin, Cuban Minister of Transportation Adel Yzquierdo Rodriguez, and Cuban Civil Aviation Institute President Alfredo Cordero Puig.
   The new arrangement provides each country with the opportunity to operate up to 20 daily roundtrip flights between the United States and Havana. It also allows each country to operate up to 10 daily roundtrip flights between the United States and each of Cuba’s nine other international airports, “providing U.S. carriers with the opportunity to operate up to a total of 110 daily roundtrip flights between the United States and Cuba,” the U.S. Transportation Department said in a statement.  
   The deal, however, does not impact air charter services. 
   DOT will now invite U.S. carriers to apply for the scheduled services to Cuba. The department said it will consider proposals that “offer and maintain the best service to the traveling and shipping public,” and will make its decisions as quickly as possible to allow U.S. carriers to benefit from the new market conditions.
   In 2014, the Obama administration initiated diplomatic efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, and in December 2015, the U.S. and Cuban governments reached agreement to re-establish air services between the two countries.