Six U.S. airlines chosen to serve nine airports in Cuba

In the first step toward the launch of regular air service between the U.S. and Cuba, the U.S. Department of Transportation picked six U.S. airlines to begin serving nine Cuban airports, outside of Havana later this year.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced that American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines can begin scheduled service to Cuba later this year.

Those six airlines will fly routes from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Philadelphia to the Cuban cities of Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuego, Holguin, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.

In an agreement between the U.S. and Cuba, 10 daily round-trip flights will be allowed between the five U.S. cities to each of the nine Cuban airports.

But the real prize for U.S. airlines will be access to Havana, the capital of Cuba. The agreement between the U.S. and Cuba allows 20 daily round-trip flights from the U.S. to Havana.

U.S. carriers have requested nearly 60 flights per day to Havana. Among the requested routes by American Airlines, is a nonstop flight from Los Angeles International to Havana.

Foxx is expected to announce that the airlines that will serve Havana later this summer.

There is good reason for the competition. Since President Obama began talking with Cuban leaders about normalizing relations over the last year, online travel agencies have reported a 500% increase in searches for flights to Cuba, according a study by the travel site Hopper.