At the request of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has just issued a document reversing the policies of the Trump administration regarding civil aviation flights to Cuba, contained in five administrative provisions approved between 2019 and 2020.
“Consistent with the [Biden] administration’s actions announced on May 16 in support of the Cuban people, I respectfully request the Department of Transportation to end civil aviation restrictions on flights between the United States and Cuba, implemented in previous Department of State requests in letters dated October 25, 2019, January 7, 2020, and August 13, 2020,” Blinken wrote.
The DOT order revokes the suspension of flights to a place other than Havana, which at the time allowed the cancellation of flights from the United States to provincial airports, with the subsequent impact on Cuban Americans whose families live in the interior of the country.
The new DOT provision restores flights to the nine airports previously authorized by the Obama administration and deactivated by the Trump administration, that is, those of Camagüey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.
