Cuba flight deal would jumpstart lagging business ties

American aviation officials estimate Cuba could allow more than a dozen fights to and from the US daily, which would be a marked improvement over the cumbersome system of pricey chartered flights or stopovers in third countries that passengers now face.

Cuba and the United States reached an agreement Wednesday evening that will allow US commercial airlines to begin operating flights to the island for the first time in decades, according to USA officials with knowledge of the discussion.

Just before the one-year anniversary of the announcement that the USA and Cuba would restore diplomatic ties, the two nations have made another breakthrough. Similar policies for the major leagues would be far more hard due to the USA trade embargo on Cuba and Cuban fears that broad legalization of departures to the US would make the talent drain even worse. A USA official with knowledge of the talks said that negotiators from both countries were still working out technical details. The two countries have reopened embassies in Havana and Washington; agreed to a pilot program restarting direct mail service; signed two deals on environmental protection; and launched talks on issues from human rights to compensation for us properties confiscated by Cuba’s revolution.

The return of the defectors on Tuesday was a landmark in the new relationship between Cuba and the United States and a dramatic manifestation of Cuba’s shifting attitude toward the hundreds of players who fled the country that trained them. Hotels and private hostals are booked for months.

The U.S. and Cuba re-opened embassies in each other’s capitals this summer.

Louis Cardinals catcher Brayan Pena and Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu were among those who ran 10- and 11-year-old Cuban players through a three-hour skills camp on the second day of a three-day mission meant to warm relations between Major League Baseball and Cuba. However, only certain U.S. citizens will be able to take up the offer because a ban on general tourism to Cuba remains in place.

In the US, banks afraid of running afoul of the embargo have been blocking legal Cuba-related transactions at rates equal to or higher than before Obama’s announcement.

News of the pending agreement comes a year after U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced the nations were restoring formal diplomatic relations that were severed shortly after communist leader Fidel Castro overthrew the island’s longtime dictator in 1959.