Maiden US-Cuba commercial flight set for takeoff
Cuba and the United States open their newest chapter in relations on Wednesday with the first regular commercial flight from America to the communist-ruled island in more than 50 years.
JetBlue Flight 386 is set to take off from Fort Lauderdale in southeastern Florida at 9:45 am (1345 GMT) with 150 passengers on board. After an hour-long flight, it will land in central Cuba's Santa Clara, 175 miles (280 kilometers) east of Havana.
"It's a new day for Cuba travelers and one we have thoughtfully prepared for. We are proud to usher in a new era of Cuba travel with affordable fares and great service," JetBlue's executive vice president Marty St. George said.
The last regular commercial flight between the two countries took place in 1961, when air links fell victim to the Cold War.
US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is also set to travel to Cuba this week to meet with local officials, Cuba's ministry of transportation said.
Washington and Havana agreed in February to restore direct commercial flights -- part of the watershed changes initiated in December 2014, when US President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro announced a thaw after more than 50 years of Cold War hostility.
Diplomatic relations were restored in July 2015.
- Special salute -
Wednesday's JetBlue flight will be flown by Captain Mark Luaces and First Officer Francisco Barreras, both Americans of Cuban descent, the airline said.
The plane will be sent off with a water cannon salute, an aviation tradition in which aircraft pass under arcs of water before flying to their destinations for the first time.
Air travel between the United States and Cuba has been restricted to charter flights since 1979.
Wednesday's scheduled journey will kick off a new flight schedule that includes 110 daily trips, with 90 already authorized by both governments to nine Cuban airports, many of them in or near tourism hotspots.
Twenty daily routes to Havana are pending.
Washington still bans Americans from visiting Cuba as tourists, but travel is permitted for 12 other categories, including cultural and educational exchange.
The renewed links are a "milestone" in relations between the United States and Cuba, Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, said.
Regular flights "will allow more fluid movement of people, goods, information and ideas between two places that are very close geographically but distant politically," he said.
Of the 3.5 million tourists in Cuba in 2015, only 161,000 were Americans. However, that number was up 77 percent from the previous year and Americans are now expected to become a major component in a growth industry expected to reach 6.8 million visitors in 2018.
The airlines designated to fly to the nine Cuban airports -- not including Havana -- include American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines, according to the US Department of Transportation.
Their flights will depart from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Minneapolis and Philadelphia, slated to land in the Cuban cities Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.
