The first commercial flight from the U.S.to Cuba in more than half a century landed in the Cuban city of Santa Clara, marking another milestone in the thawing relationship between the two countries.
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JetBlue Flight 387 landed in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara a little before 11:00 am (1500 GMT), about an hour after leaving Fort Lauderdale in southeastern Florida with 150 passengers on board.
Foxx also announced that the Transportation Department has finalized its selection of eight US airlines to begin scheduled flights to Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport as early as this fall, including a daily nonstop, round-trip American Airlines flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
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.
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.
Calling it a “historic occasion”, Foxx said in a blog posted on the Transportation Department’s website that the inaugural flight culminated “months of work by airlines, cities, the USA government and many others toward delivering on President Barack Obama’s promise to re-engage with Cuba”.
“It’s a new day for Cuba travelers and one we have thoughtfully prepared for”.
“Today’s actions are the result of months of work by airlines, cities, the USA government and many others toward delivering President’s Obama’s promise to reengage with Cuba”, DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx said.
“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.
Despite the relaunch of commercial flights, a ban on travel by USA citizens to Cuba for tourism remains in place.
“Another step fwd”, US Secretary of State John Kerry wrote on Twitter (Frankfurt: A1W6XZ – news).
Neta Rodriguez, a 62-year-old Havana-born South Florida homemaker, checked in Wednesday morning with her daughter, son-in-law and three grandsons for a visit to family in Santa Clara and Havana.
Commercial flights are expected to greatly increase the number of American visitors. The Tampa Bay area has been at the forefront of President Obama’s policy of “engagement” for many years and I trust that our community will continue to build bridges with the Cuban people for the benefit of our neighbors on both sides of the Florida Straits.
The airlines receiving the Havana awards include network, low-cost, and ultra low cost carriers – Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines.
Both countries signed an agreement in February this year that allowed up to 110 daily flights between several cities in the US and 10 Cuban worldwide airports, including the capital city of Havana.
Of the 3.5mn tourists in Cuba in 2015, only 161,000 were Americans.
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Mann said the companies probably offered to fly to Cuban cities that are unfamiliar to many American travelers, so that USA officials would look favorably on their applications to fly to Havana.
