U.S., Cuba to hold airline talks Sept 28-29 - U.S. official says

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Cuba plan to hold talks in Havana next week on normalizing airline service, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, a step that could benefit U.S. carriers if the island becomes open to American tourism.

The Sept. 28-29 talks take place as Washington and Havana inch toward normal relations after more than half a century of hostility that followed Cuba's 1959 revolution. The two nations restored diplomatic ties and reopened embassies this summer.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in New York and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)