Flights will depart from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Minneapolis and Philadelphia, slated to land in the Cuban cities Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.
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And as The Associated Press reports, “Cheers broke out in the cabin of JetBlue flight 387 as the plane touched down”.
Just two years ago, Americans visiting Cuba without special permission from the US government faced the prospect of hefty fines, even prosecution.
The chill in air travel began after Cuba’s communist revolution, and warmed up a year ago when a deal was struck to let US carriers make up to 110 daily round-trip flights to Cuban cities.
“Seeing the American airlines landing routinely around the island will drive a sense of openness, integration and normality”. That has a huge psychological impact, ” said Richard Feinberg, author of the new book Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy.
JetBlue Airways Corp JBLU.O , Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N and United Continental Holdings Inc UAL.N were among the winners, with most proposing to begin services later this year or early in 2017.
Once Alaska receives official approval from the Cuban government, the airline will determine when to begin service.
The growing class of Cubans and Cuban-Americans who split their lives between the countries one day may turn Miami-Havana flights into the Caribbean equivalent of the New York-Washington, D.C. shuttle.
The restart of commercial travel between the two countries is one of the most important steps in President Barack Obama’s two-year-old policy of normalising relations with the island.
And with diplomatic ties restored, US Secretary of State John Kerry noted on Twitter that the flight took place just over a year after the raising of the flag at the reopened US embassy in Havana.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has also finalized which eight U.S. airlines will be able to fly to Havana – Cuba’s capital city.
“It’s a positive step and a concrete contribution to the process of improving relations between the two countries”, said Cuba’s vice minister of transportation Eduardo Rodriguez.
Jubilation among passengers was evident on social media with Instagram user soulbphotos writing on a photo of what appeared to be the plane’s cabin and a Cuban flag, “Honor to be on the first commercial flight to cuba in over 50 years”.
“Our friends had been here and said, ‘Why don’t you come to Cuba before it’s too Westernized, before you see McDonalds and Wal-Mart and all of the other United States companies in Cuba.?'” said Gerri Hall, a USA citizen visiting Cuba.
“This is part of a larger objective we have right now to really nudge Cuba towards progress in the 21st century, economically, politically and on so many other fronts”.
Commercial flights are expected to significantly increase the number of American visitors, although it’s not clear by how much.
Several commercial airlines applied to be among the first to offer flights from the U.S.to Cuba.
A US ban on tourism to Cuba is still in effect, but the United States stopped prosecuting individuals for going to Cuba when Obama became president.
Americans are allowed to visit the island on “people-to-people” cultural and educational visits, among other reasons.
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The Cuban and American governments publicly insist that the US formal ban on tourism remains a high barrier for USA visitors because it requires them to engage in one of 12 legally approved categories of activities including “people-to-people” educational travel.
