OREANDA-NEWS. February 18, 2016. American Airlines today issued the following statement on the United States and Cuba finalizing a bilateral air service arrangement.

“American Airlines commends the U.S. government for its commitment to re-establishing cultural and economic ties between the U.S. and Cuba, and for laying the groundwork to restore scheduled air service between the two countries for the first time in more than 50 years,” said American’s Chairman and CEO

Doug Parker. “We applaud the Administration for making commercial air service a priority and we thank Secretary Foxx, Secretary Kerry and their teams for their leadership in finalizing this arrangement. American looks forward to submitting a Cuba service proposal to the Department of Transportation in the coming weeks.”

American’s Latin America gateway hub at Miami International Airport (MIA) will be included in the company’s application for scheduled service to Cuba. American is also considering applying to serve Cuba from other hubs. American is the premier carrier to the Caribbean and has been the leader in providing service from the U.S. to Cuba for 25 years. In 2015, American operated approximately 1,200 charter flights to Cuba – more than any other U.S. carrier and a significant increase over the prior year.