Flying to Cuba from the USA

Until quite recently only a few airports in the United States have had permission to operate charter flights directly to Havana in Cuba this was Miami MIA, New York JFK, and Los Angeles LAX this was because the US Federal Authorities would not grant permission to any other airport in the United States to fly to Cuba.

This policy has now been changed and during 2011, another nine airports have been granted permission by the FAA to operate a limited amount of charter flights to Cuba these include:

Atlanta ATL
Baltimore BWI
Dallas-Fort Worth DFW
New Orleans MSY
Chicago Pittsburgh ORD
Tampa TPA
San Juan Puerto Rico SJU

The most-recent addition is EYW Key West�s small international airport in Florida, during October in 2011.

Flying to Cuba should be a very simple affair considering, Key West and Cuba are only separated by 90 miles. It is actually quite difficult due to a lot of red tape, particularly if you are not a Cuban-American with relatives in Cuba!

Restrictions for some US Citizens are slowly been relaxed, notably Cuban-Americans, who now have little to no restrictions. In January of 2011 President Barack Obama made some policy changes, and also announced charter services to Cuba would be expanded.

One of the things to note is the lack of competition, which obviously leads to somewhat inflated prices at present you will need to go through a tour operator and the cost of a return ticket is around $600.

One can always fly indirectly via Canda or another country in the Caribbean. Such as the Bahamas, daily flights can be found from Fort Lauderdale to NAS and in most cases, a connecting flight is available to Havana this is in some ways preferable and cheaper than navigating a whole bunch of red tape.

Hopefully, as the years go by Cuba will open up and all the current restrictions placed on US citizens flying to Cuba will be removed.
Continue Reading: Vacationing in Cuba