Delta to serve Havana, Cuba, from New York-JFK, Atlanta and Miami

Delta Air Lines will begin serving Havana, Cuba, this fall from New York-JFK, Atlanta and Miami as a result of today’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Delta applauds and thanks the DOT for awarding the airline the ability to resume operating daily, nonstop scheduled service to the Caribbean island for the first time in almost 55 years. All routes are subject to Cuban regulatory approval. Delta will begin selling seats to Havana this summer. Delta inherited passenger service to Havana, Cuba, from its merger with Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S) on May 1, 1953, offering nonstop flights from New Orleans. Political instability and profitability issues ultimately led Delta to suspend service on December 1, 1961. From 2002-2004 Delta operated charters between New York-JFK and Havana. In October 2011, Delta began operating up to a dozen charter flights to Havana per week with daily service from Miami and weekly service from Atlanta and New York-JFK. It operated almost 500 trips before suspending service on December 29, 2012. Most recently, in 2015, Delta performed three ad hoc charter flights including one that carried the Minnesota Orchestra back to Cuba for its first performance on the island in more than 85 years.

Ripple effects of Brexit likely to hit American Airlines, U.S. aviation industry

American Airlines’ stock price dropped sharply in early hours of trading Friday as news of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union roils markets and portends choppy skies for the trans-Atlantic and

European aviation markets. Overall, major U.S. stock indexes were down 3.4 to 4.1 percent after British citizens voted to leave the European Union in a Thursday referendum.
The decision creates uncertainty in a number of areas for U.S. carriers, although American is perhaps the most exposed, with 6 to 7 percent of its total capacity touching the U.K., according to analyst estimates.


The company operates 25 daily flights to London from the U.S., including three from DFW International Airport. Friday morning, American didn’t have much to say on the Brexit besides that the company is monitoring the situation. “We will learn more as the exit process unfolds and any effects of that exit become more clear,” spokesman Matt Miller said. American has a close partnership with British Airways, with the two airlines sharing revenues on trans-Atlantic flights through an antitrust immunized joint venture that allows them to coordinate on scheduling and marketing of routes. American also relies on British Airways to connect its customers to many destinations beyond London, a flow that could be disrupted as the U.K. renegotiates “Open Skies” agreements that allow domestic carriers access to foreign markets.

Delta, by comparison, has a 49 percent stake in U.K.-based Virgin Atlantic, but also has a close partnership with Air France-KLM. “There are literally thousands of agreements that are in place in which the U.K. as part of the EU negotiated in good faith and has been living under,” said James Moore, managing director of the Business, Society, and Public Policy Initiative at Georgetown University’s business school. “Now there are going to have to be new agreements that are negotiated.” In the short term, demand for business travel to and from the U.K. could shrink in the wake of the economic uncertainty and as a weakened British pound makes it more expensive for residents there to travel internationally.
A weaker British pound will make travel to the U.K. cheaper for U.S. passengers, however. Longer term, London’s role as a global economic capital could shrink as businesses reshape their operations as a result of the Brexit. “There are corporations that have literally used London as their front door to the EU,” said Moore, who previously served as the U.S. assistant secretary of Commerce for Trade Development. “We are rewriting the history books in economics and politically and even to a certain extent militarily. This is brave new world all the way around; how this ends up is anybody’s guess.”