Marking anniversary, Obama says long journey for US, Cuba

On Dec. 17 last year, President Barack Obama announced a normalization process with Cuba, ending 50 years of enmity between the two countries.

Cuba does not typically welcome back defectors so soon, especially for high-profile events, and they remain banned from the Cuban national team for worldwide events such as the World Baseball Classic. And despite USA carriers are willing to open scheduled service to Cuba, it is unclear when these would actually resume as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires to verify that safety regulations in Cuban airports are duly in place.

Until now only charter flights were permitted.

There is huge potential for growth Cuban’s aviation and tourism markets, but also many constraints, primarily in ground and airport infrastructure, and in Cuba’s concerns to protect its only major airline, Cubana, which has just 26 aircraft, majority Russian.

With tourism increasingly becoming the main economic motor for the communist-run island, it comes as little surprise that the Cuban government was as keen on this particular measure as their counterparts in Washington.

Its adoption by the two governments will be confirmed in the next few days, the embassy added.

Officials said that, once reached, a formal deal could pave the way for negotiations with airlines.

While plans for commercial service are finalized, American will continue to operate flights to Cuba by collaborating with our valued charter partners.

JetBlue also said it would look to begin scheduled service to Cuba in short order.

“Most tourists still can not legally visit Cuba, but a State Department spokesman says having a stronger aviation relationship will promote authorized travel and improve people-to-people contact”.

“ASTA member travel agents believe that Americans ought to be allowed to travel across the globe without restriction, allowing them to act as ambassadors of freedom and American values overseas”, he said. For instance, Mr. Obama said in the Yahoo interview that Cuba must allow foreign investors to hire Cuban employees themselves rather than through the Cuban government and needs to reform its dual currency.

In the latest step in the historic thaw, the United States announced Thursday the resumption of regular flights to and from Cuba. “But we are much closer than we were in our determination to address those matters in a systematic and mutually respectful way”.

But talks in Washington have now resulted in an agreement on flights.

Tony Clark, assured here that the Major League Baseball wants the safe and legal insertion of Cuban players in the main tournament in the USA.

“Everybody should be happy because, through baseball, we’re uniting countries”, Tony Castro, Fidel Castro’s youngest child, told a group of American reporters Thursday.