Sun Country bids to fly nonstop from Minneapolis to Havana

Sun Country Airlines has applied with the U.S. government to operate two weekly nonstop flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Havana, the company confirmed Wednesday night.

The Mendota Heights-based airline submitted its route bids to the U.S. Department of Transportation by the Wednesday deadline along with a slew of other U.S. airlines hoping to fly routes between their large domestic hubs and the island nation. The U.S. carriers are competing to fly the first commercial nonstop routes between the United States and Cuba in five decades.

Sun Country is the only airline bidding on a nonstop between Cuba and Minnesota.

While the federal government will have 110 routes to divvy up between the carriers, just 20 of those are to Havana -- the capital city and Cuba's most sought-after tourism destination. The remaining routes will be allocated to Cuba's nine other international airports.

"Sun Country has bid on a few year-round routes from Minneapolis to Havana, both nonstop, as well as a one-stop flight through Fort Myers, Florida," said Zarir Erani, the airline's president and chief executive, in a statement.

In addition, he said, "we have bid on seasonal routes to Varadero and Santa Clara in hopes of offering additional vacation destinations to our hometown customers."

Nearly every major U.S. airline and several budget and regional carriers announced their bids late Wednesday afternoon. USA Today has compiled a list of the bids already made public.