US parcels giant Federal Express (FedEx) has been awarded cargo flying rights to Cuba by the Department of Transportation (DoT) in Washington.
FedEx's uncontested application makes it the first all-cargo carrier to provide scheduled services to Cuba since the easing of decades-long political tensions between Washington and Havana.
The DoT stated: "FedEx will begin once-daily Monday through Friday service between Miami, Florida and Matanzas, Cuba, beginning January 15, 2017."
The DoT confirmed that FedEx filed an application dated March 2, proposing a five-days-per-week all-cargo service using a Boeing 757-200SF over a Miami-Havana-Merida, Mexico-Miami routing, beginning September 1, 2016.
In mid-June, FedEx amended its application, to replace its Havana frequency and exemption with an all-cargo Miami-Matanzas service. "We received no objections to FedEx’s motion," said the DoT, which is granting FedEx a two-year exemption authority for the specific Miami-Matanzas city pair.
On February 16 this year, the US signed an arrangement with the Cuban government to re-establish scheduled air service between the two countries after more than 50 years.
Under the new arrangement, each country has the opportunity to operate up to 20 daily round trip flights between the US and Havana, and up to 10 daily round trip flights between the US and each of Cuba’s other nine international airports.
DoT’s award of non-Havana authority to FedEx is in addition to DOT’s June 10 approval of six US airlines to begin scheduled combination services to Cuban cities outside Havana.
All of these non-Havana applications were uncontested. DoT’s proceeding on the award of Havana authority is ongoing.
