Sun Country cleared to offer service to Cuba

Twin Cities-based Sun Country Airlines is among six U.S. carriers cleared to offer scheduled service to Cuba.

Sun Country received permission to offer one nonstop flight a week between the Twin Cities and Santa Clara and another weekly nonstop flight to Matanzas on Cuba's north shore, an approximately two hour drive to Havana.

Start dates and schedules are not yet set. Sun Country is also seeking permission to offer service to Havana.

Collectively, U.S. carriers have requested nearly 60 flights per day to that city while only 20 daily flights will be permitted.

In addition to Sun Country, the U.S. Department of Transportation approved flights by American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Silver Airways and Southwest Airlines.

U.S. law still prohibits tourist travel to Cuba, but a dozen other categories of travel are permitted, including family visits, official business, journalist visits, professional meetings and educational and religious activities. The Obama administration has eased rules to the point where travelers are now free to design their own "people-to-people" cultural exchanges with little oversight.

Most of the airline service is expected to begin this fall and early winter, the department said.

Approval is still required by the Cuban government, but the carriers say they plan to start selling tickets in the next few weeks while they wait for signoffs from Cuba.

More than a year ago, Obama announced it was time to "begin a new journey" with the communist country. "Today we are delivering on his promise," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

As it considers opening routes to Havana, the department's selection process has been complicated because airlines have requested far more routes than are available under the U.S. agreement with Cuba. A decision on Havana routes is expected later this summer.

The routes approved Friday were not contested because there was less interest among U.S. airlines in flying to Cuban locations other than Havana. In addition to Minneapolis-St. Paul, the routes include service from Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The other Cuban destinations are Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo, and Santiago de Cuba.

All flights currently operating between the two countries are charters, but the agreement the administration signed with Cuba in February allows for up to 110 additional flights — more than five times the current charter operations.

The Transportation Security Administration is in the process of completing a security review of Cuban airports expected to have direct flights to the United States, and it is working with the Cuban government to schedule and complete the security assessment of any additional airports that propose to begin service, the agency said.