{"id":210928,"date":"2019-12-16T13:42:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T18:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=210928"},"modified":"2019-12-16T13:45:18","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T18:45:18","slug":"miami-airport-with-high-passenger-to-cuba-index-despite-flight-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba-usa\/miami-airport-with-high-passenger-to-cuba-index-despite-flight-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami airport with high passenger to Cuba index despite flight restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. airlines may no longer be traveling to the interior of Cuba, but despite this, the movement of passengers at the <\/span>Miami<\/span><\/a> airport does not seem to have decreased. Charter flights have now occupied that market niche and have filled that need with the increase in the number of flights.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are responding to the need of the public who on these holidays, as on previous ones, travels en masse to Cuba. From here to the end of the year all flights have been sold out,\u201d Mireya Le\u00f3n, flight dispatcher of one of the charter companies, told OnCuba<\/strong>. And the source explains that they have even sold in advance the seats that are usually set aside for passengers with last-minute emergencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since <\/span>commercial flights to Cuba<\/span><\/a> opened in mid-2016, charter companies suffered a downturn, difficult to quantify because they don\u2019t report detailed figures, and lost customers because U.S. airlines lowered prices in many cases by more than 50%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the ticket prices for Christmas tend to increase due to the high season, even with the absence of commercial flights to the interior of the island, the trip for many Cubans living in South Florida was made more bearable.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI started doing calculations and I realized that if I traveled to Havana and from there to Villa Clara it was going to be more expensive than paying a little more now and traveling directly to my home in Santa Clara,\u201d explains Valent\u00edn Gonz\u00e1lez, a passenger traveling with his wife and a daughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to passengers who recently arrived from the island, taxi drivers in Havana have almost doubled the prices of trips to the interior of the country. For Santa Clara they would be charging about 300 dollars and they have discovered a byproduct of that service, which is common in many countries, but not in Cuba: some charge separately for the transportation of luggage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have told me that they are doing it, but I don’t know for sure. That’s why I\u2019m taking a little extra money,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez emphasizes.<\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, in this line the travel agencies, which traditionally book hotels and rental cars, now also ensure taxi service to the interior that is paid in Cuba, not in Miami. \u201cThere is still little taxi traffic through us, but it is increasing,\u201d explains Le\u00f3n.<\/span><\/p>\n

The nuisance of travel from Havana to the interior of Cuba is a stumbling block created by the limitation that the Donald Trump administration has imposed on American airlines to travel only to the capital, when until recently they did so to about six airports throughout the island.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of October,<\/span><\/a> Washington announced the ban that came into effect on December 10 only for commercial airlines. Charters were not affected by this measure and now have the virtual monopoly of flights to the interior of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Entra en vigor la prohibici\u00f3n de vuelos entre EEUU y el interior de Cuba<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n