In statements to reporters yesterday, some few hours before the arrival of the JetBlue Airways Airbus A-320, Raul Alcacer, manager in Cuba of its opening, confirmed the excitement of the company for being what restart flights between the two neighboring countries.
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For now JetBlue has only received the green light for flights to Santa Clara.
The escalation directly led to the Cuban Missile Crisis of ’62, plus trade embargos, blockades, and more relevant to this piece, Cuba imposed a ban on all incoming flights from the United States, a ban that has lasted to this very day.
For 50 years, all Americans visiting Cuba had to go through a cumbersome and expensive charter service.
“I think it’s going to be an emotional moment for all of us”, Barreras said. “It’s an fantastic, awesome time”.
Getting to Cuba gets much easier Wednesday as airlines launch easier and cheaper flights to get to the once-isolated island nation.
“We wanted to be first to Cuba and our crew members wanted to be first in Cuba”.
Last week, JetBlue flights to Cuba were advertised as low as $99 from the U.S.as airlines compete to become one of the first of several carriers to fly between the two countries.
Airlines are obligated to begin flights within 90 days – right after Thanksgiving – but may begin earlier.
JetBlue hopes to get the green light to begin service to two other Cuban airports; Camagüey-Ignacio Agramonte Airport and Holguín-Frank País Airport in November.
But Republican Mike McCaul – chair of the House Homeland Security – said “this has been a very rushed process”. “From a challenge perspective, we know the drill. It just takes one person – either corrupted or radicalized – to put a bomb on an airplane”, McCaul said.
U.S. Air Marshals will be on some flights and the TSA said it is “confident in the security protocols” at the eight island airports assessed so far.
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“We will ensure that they in fact meet all of those requirements that we put in place at last points of departure”, said TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger. But earlier this year, the USA loosened the embargo to allow “person-to-person educational exchange” including independently organized trips, making it easier for US citizens to travel to the country.
