HAVANA: Customs officials on Tuesday approved a request from Key West International Airport that doubles the number of passengers allowed on commercial flights between Key West and Cuba.
Previously limited to 10, flights between the islands now may carry up to 20 passengers, Monroe County Airports Director Don DeGraw announced Wednesday when speaking to update Key West Chamber of Commerce members on the airport operations.
“Obviously we’re very happy with the breaking news update we’re able to add here, after hearing yesterday from Customs and Border Protection officials that they had approved our request for the increased capacity,” DeGraw said Wednesday.
The airport is currently in the second phase of a four-phase, $7 million project to upgrade the airport’s Customs and Border Protection facility. Once the upgrades are complete, the Key West Customs building will be able to accommodate up to 70 arriving passengers per hour.
“We hope that once our entire facility is upgraded to CBP standards, all restrictions will be lifted and there will be no passenger constraints for Silver,” DeGraw said. “But that is a few years away.”
For now, he, as well as officials from Silver Airlines, are happy with the approved increase to 20 international passengers. Silver Airlines recently received approval to operate flights between Florida and some Cuban cities, but aviation officials have not yet announced which carriers will be approved for the most coveted routes into Havana. That announcement will be made in September, DeGraw said.
Between May 1 and Tuesday, Customs officials at Key West International have processed 33 charters and 66 private aircraft, which is more than double the 19 charters and 30 private aircraft processed in the same time period of 2015.
“This jump was mostly due to arrivals from Cuba,” DeGraw said. “If restrictions continue to ease for Americans traveling to Cuba, we expect to see these numbers improve even more.”
In other airport news, DeGraw told Chamber members that he is continuing to market Key West International to other airlines to recoup the decline in passenger counts since Southwest stopped serving Key West in 2014.
Airlines with a fleet that could utilize Key West’s shorter runway include United, JetBlue, Frontier, Elite and Southwest.
“Obviously, we’d always welcome them back,” he said. “So there is absolutely room for another carrier at Key West International.”
