Alaska’s Boeing 737 flights will originate in Seattle, stop over in Los Angeles and then head to Havana. “Another step fwd”, he wrote on Twitter.
Advertisement
“Today’s actions are the result of months of work by airlines, cities, the USA government, and many others toward delivering on President Obama’s promise to reengage with Cuba”, said Secretary Foxx. Lauderdale, including singing and salsa dancing. A good number of those who were neither reporters nor airline employees had no idea they were going on board a historic flight.
For some, there were also tears of joy. “I want to be on this historic flight and I want to see my family”, 49-year-old Miami native Chavez Lazarro said. “I don’t know my country”, adding: “It’s a great opportunity”.
“It’s a new day for Cuba travelers”, said Marty St. George, JetBlue’s executive vice president, when the flight details were first announced last month.
The airline accounts for about one-fifth of all flights at the airport.
Another passenger, Aleisy Barreda, 46, was overcome with emotion.
JetBlue made history on August 31 with a successful inaugural flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Santa Clara, which is located in central Cuba, says ABC News.
“This reopening has really benefitted us”, she gushed.
He said planning the trip was even more special because he bought the first ticket for the flight.
Time.com reported late last month that the initial JetBlue fares to Cuba will be cheap-starting at $99 one way.
Foxx was in Cuba to mark the restart of scheduled commercial flights between the two countries. JetBlue’s one-way flights from Florida to Cuba start at $99.
The first scheduled commercial passenger flight from the United States to Cuba in more than half a century landed on Wednesday, opening another chapter in the Obama administration’s efforts to improve ties and increase trade and travel with the former Cold War foe.
Diplomatic relations were restored in July 2015.
US citizens are still prohibited from visiting as tourists, although there have always been exceptions to the ban, ranging from visiting family to business, cultural, religious and educational travel.
Regular flights “will allow more fluid movement of people, goods, information and ideas between two places that are very close geographically but distant politically”, he said. As Reuters reported, “In 2015, the Cuban government reported 161,233 Americans visited, compared to 91,254 in 2014, and arrivals through June almost doubled over the same period a year ago”.
Advertisement
As Cuba’s economy continues to struggle, the boom in US visitors is a rare bright spot that is only expected to grow. Travel to the island is still unavailable to mere tourists.
