Airlines Plan More Cuba Flights as Obama Weighs Easing Rules

If the U.S. and Cuba enter into a new civil aviation agreement, American could operate regular service, without using a charter company.

A direct flight to Havana, Cuba, is listed on a screen in Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport airport in New York on Aug. 7, 2015.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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U.S. airlines are gearing up for regular flights to CubaBloomberg Terminal as the Obama administration pursues a deal to allow commercial travel between the two countries.

Such an agreement, which a White House official said Tuesday was under consideration, would expand travel options between the U.S. and Cuba without requiring Congress to lift five-decade-old travel restrictions. Airlines already have benefited this year from increased travel by Americans to Cuba, where the U.S. marked the reopening of its embassy in a flag-raising ceremony last week.