ATLANTA, Aug. 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines
(NYSE: DAL) will begin daily service to Havana, Cuba, from Atlanta, Miami and New York–JFK on Dec. 1, 2016, following today's announcement by
the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Delta thanked the DOT for awarding the airline
the ability to resume operating nonstop scheduled service to
Cuba for the first time in almost
55 years.
Flights will be available for sale beginning Sept. 10, 2016. All routes are subject to Cuban
regulatory approval.
"Today, we celebrate our long-awaited and historic return to
Cuba, and we reaffirm our thanks
to Secretary Foxx and his team as well as the U.S. State Department
for granting us the authority to operate this service," said
Nicolas Ferri, Delta's Vice President—Latin America and the
Caribbean. "This December, we look
forward to serving customers with the excellent customer service
and operational performance they expect from Delta while reuniting families and supporting
a new generation of travelers seeking to engage and explore this
unique destination."
Delta's Awarded
Routes
Delta flights between New
York-JFK and Havana will connect
the New York City area, home to
the second largest Cuban-American population, to Cuba's political, cultural and economic
capital.
Atlanta service will provide
more than 150 U.S. cities with one-stop access to Cuba from the world's largest hub, with more
seats, destinations and flights than any other carrier.
Delta's Miami-Havana
flights will serve the largest population of Cuban-Americans in the
U.S. Delta is the second-largest
carrier at Miami International
Airport by number of daily flights.
Delta Vacations, Delta's
official vacation provider, will offer Cuba travel packages later this year for
customers who prefer to bundle their Cuba experience.
Americans can travel to Cuba
only if their trip falls within one of 12 designated categories
outlined here, including family visits, educational activities,
religious activities, humanitarian projects, professional research
and professional meetings and others.
Delta's History in
Cuba
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. Delta suspended
service on Dec. 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 Dec. 29, 2012. Most recently, Delta operated three ad hoc charter flights in
2015, including one that carried the Minnesota Orchestra back to
Cuba for its first performance on
the island in more than 85 years.
About Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines serves nearly 180 million customers each year.
In 2016, Delta was named to
Fortune's top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named
the most admired airline for the fifth time in six years.
Additionally, Delta has ranked
No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an
unprecedented five consecutive years. With an industry-leading
global network, Delta and the
Delta Connection carriers offer service to 321 destinations in 56
countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs more than 80,000 employees
worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft.
The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and
participates in the industry's leading transatlantic joint
venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a joint venture
with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners,
Delta offers customers more than
15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including
Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St.
Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de
Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in
airport facilities, global products and services, and technology to
enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground.
Additional information is available on the Delta News Hub, as well
as delta.com, Twitter @DeltaNewsHub, Google.com/+Delta, and
Facebook.com/delta.
Delta Air Lines is working to be the best U.S. airline in
Latin America and the
Caribbean. It has being honored with five World Travel Awards
in 2015 in the categories of North
America's Leading Airline and United States' Leading Airline to the
Caribbean, to Central America, to South America and to Mexico. Delta's
achievements in the region have been also recognized with two top
customer service distinctions by Latin Trade's Best of Travel
Annual Awards 2015, leading the categories of "Best Self-Check-In"
and "Best Food and Beverage" in the Delta One™ cabin. Delta continues to grow in Latin America through its long-term exclusive
alliances with GOL Linhas Aéreas
Inteligentes, Aeroméxico and Aerolíneas Argentinas,
and is committed to building a solid regional footprint to enhance
its global network and offer its customers the best overall
experience. Delta provides service
to 26 countries and 55 destinations in the region, offering over
1,500 weekly flights between the U.S. and Latin America/the Caribbean. Delta customers can also receive real-time,
on-the-go travel assistance in Spanish and Portuguese through
Twitter
channels @DeltaAssist_ES and @DeltaAjuda from
9 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST. Brazilian
customers can also access Delta's
dedicated Brazilian Facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/DeltaAirLinesBrasil.
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SOURCE Delta Air Lines