The Catch to the US Allowing Air Travel to Cuba

U.S. President Barack Obama said full normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States “will be a long journey”.

In addition, thanks to the change in USA policy toward Cuba, Washington is “in a stronger position” to engage “the people and governments of our hemisphere”, Obama said.

American has offered charters to Cuba since 1991 and will have operated approximately 1200 such flights by the end of this year; it now has flights from Miami, Tampa and Los Angeles to the Cuban cities of Camaguey, Cienfuegos, Havana, Holguin and Santa Clara.

The pact – the most significant business development since the presidents’ announcement one year ago – allows USA airlines to negotiate with the Cuban government over commercial flight routes and schedules. Travelers must meet special criteria and fall under 12 categories such as “people-to-people” trips that encourage relations between USA and Cuban citizens. The carrier saw an increase in traffic to Cuba this year as the USA relaxed some of the travel restrictions to Cuba, allowing more educational and humanitarian trips to the island nation.

While U.S. officials still criticize Cuba for human rights, they now believe promoting political and other freedoms is more likely to be achieved through engagement.

The agreement was made official on Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of the announcements by Presidents Obama and Castro that their countries were restoring diplomatic ties.

How many flights go in and out of Cuba will be dictated by Cuba’s ability to handle the float. By July they had agreed to restore diplomatic ties after a 54-year break.

In the latest step in the historic thaw, the United States announced Thursday the resumption of regular flights to and from Cuba. In an interview with Yahoo News, Mr. Obama said Cuba must allow foreign investors to hire Cuban employees themselves rather than through the Cuban government and needs to reform its dual currency.

Castro, who took over Cuba’s presidency from his older brother Fidel, also objected to USA immigration policy that gives preferences to Cuban migrants, offering them automatic residence if they reach US territory. “We will review the terms of the agreement to understand how JetBlue can expand from charter service to regularly scheduled service”, said JetBlue’s senior vice president airline planning, Scott Laurence.

As for the power of people-to-people engagement, Quintana says she doubts it can have much impact in the case of Cuba, where she says a fearful government does its best to limit contact between average Cubans and visiting Americans.

The return of commercial flights appears certain to create a surge in travel that would place heavy strain on Cuba’s already overstrained tourist infrastructure.