While thousands of Cubans gathered to pay posthumous homage to Fidel Castro in different parts of Cuba, this Monday the first regular flight from the United States in more than 50 years landed in Havana.
The American Airlines aircraft took off from Miami with 157 passengers at 7:30 am and arrived in José Martí International Airport a bit less than an hour later. The travelers, wearing straw hats with the word Cuba on them given by the airline, were received with signs of welcome but without music or other festive activities.
The fact was greeted by the White House, which on its Facebook profile said that it opens “new horizons of opportunity for both the American people and the Cuban people.”
A flight from New York, belonging to the JetBlue company, also arrived this Monday to Havana’s airport. It was a landmark for the airline since the Cuban capital becomes its 100th destination in 22 countries.
JetBlue was the company that on August 31 made the first commercial flight from the United States to Cuba since 1961, a trip that joined the cities of Fort Lauderdale, in Florida, and Santa Clara, in central Cuba.
The arrival of these flights to Havana has barely had an impact in the Caribbean nation’s media, whose state media is offering a special programming for Fidel’s funeral rites. This context will undoubtedly mark their visits due to the restrictions established by the national mourning in force on the island until next December 4.
Another element contributing tension to the moment is the position of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has spared no offensive statements about the deceased leader of the Cuban Revolution and has threatened to reverse the process of normalization of relations between the two countries promoted under the presidency of Barack Obama.
Alfredo González, marketing director of American Airlines for the Americas, arrived in Havana on this Monday’s flight. When asked about the changes that could take place with respect to the island with the arrival of Trump to the presidency, González commented: “We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but we can tell you we are here in Cuba, in the provinces, we are in Havana and we’re going to continue with our service.”
With the start of its flights to the Cuban capital, the company is expanding its destinations on the island that already include Camagüey, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Santa Clara and Varadero. Starting Wednesday it will have four daily flights from Miami to the Cuban capital and another from Charlotte, North Carolina, which together with the existing ones will add up to 13 flights to the island every day.
Meanwhile, Robin Hayes, president and CEO of JetBlue, described as historic the first flight of an aircraft from his company to Havana and commented that he expected to continue their long-term association while they continue growing and strengthening their presence in Cuba.
JetBlue is adding Havana to a catalog that already included the cities of Camagüey, Holguín and Santa Clara as destinations in Cuba. This Tuesday the airline’s new daily flights will commence to the city of Havana from Orlando, Florida, and starting Wednesday another two flights will be added from Fort Lauderdale.
American Airlines and JetBlue will be followed by the airlines Spirit, Frontier, Delta and Southwest, with new regular flights to Havana and other destinations on the island. The plan, agreed between Cuban and U.S. authorities, includes completing 100 daily flights before the end of the year, 20 of them to the Cuban capital.
Since 1979 and up to JetBlue’s pioneer flight in August of this year, the two countries had been only linked through charter flights. Now, the current programming of commercial flights to the island offers a greater travel possibility for U.S. citizens and at much more economical prices.
The principal limitation continues being the economic embargo that bans tourism to Cuba, which is why to travel to the largest of the Caribbean islands U.S. citizens must comply with one of the 12 categories authorized until today by the U.S. government.
