The JetBlue flight touched down at 10:57 a.m. local time at the Abel Santamaria International airport, carrying 150 passengers, including numerous airline executives and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx.
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In addition, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) today finalized its selection of eight US airlines to begin scheduled flights to Havana as early as this fall.
In a statement, American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) president and CEO Zane Kerby congratulated all USA airlines making their inaugural flights to Cuba this week, calling the news “a significant step in the right direction that will benefit American consumers and the ASTA travel agents who serve them”.
USA transport secretary Anthony Foxx was among the passengers on today’s flight. While relations between the United States and Cuba are still complex and far from being entirely open, the beginning of commercial flights to the communist republic indicates that a major shift in relations between the countries is in the works, with important implications for both former enemies.
JetBlue is the first US airline to resume regularly scheduled airline service under new rules allowing Americans greater access to Cuba.
Under the US-Cuba agreement, each country has the opportunity to operate up to 20 daily roundtrip flights between the countries.
Until now only chartered flights flew from the United States to the Communist country. So you can expect more flights in the future. There hasn’t been a single commercial flight between the two nations in the 53 intervening years, until today.
American Airlines will begin offering flights from Miami, Florida to Cienfuegos and Holguin on September 7, 2016 and has been providing non-scheduled charter service to Cuba from Florida for approximately 25 years.
Yesterday, the DOT also announced that along with Jet Blue, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines would operate the coveted Havana flights.
“The 1st US commercial flight to #Cuba since 1961, just over a year after raising the flag at US Embassy Havana”.
The flight was the first of 110 expected trips every day connecting U.S. cities to airports in the Communist-run island, many of them in or near tourism hotspots.
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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.
