American Airlines plans to resume flights to Cuba on November 4, as revealed by the tourism portal Caribbean News Digital.
The airline can only fly to Havana due to sanctions imposed in 2019 by the US government.
The company also intends to re-establish flights to other destinations in the region, such as Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Grenada, St. Kitts and the North American Virgin Islands.
In any case, the resumption of flights will depend on the reopening of Havana’s José Martí airport, the date of which has not yet been set, although some estimate it could be at the end of the month.
Although other airports on the island are open, American Airlines aircraft cannot land on them due to penalties imposed in 2019 by the US Government, which selects Havana as the only permitted destination in the country.
At the moment, the airline has not disclosed the frequency of flights it will establish after the restart of operations.
American Airlines plans to apply rapid coronavirus testing to its passengers before each flight, which will begin in Jamaica, where the airline currently flies five times each day.
“The tests we will offer will be optional for the convenience of our customers. Jamaican residents who volunteer for our pilot program (and get a negative test result) will not have to be quarantined upon arrival,” said the company’s spokesperson, Laura Masvidal, to the Global Tourism portal.
At the beginning of April Cuba completely closed its borders, except for freight traffic and exceptional cases such as repatriation flights or sending medical missions.
In early August last year, Jardines del Rey International Airport, in Cayo Coco, Ciego de Avila, welcomed the first foreign tourists since the government decreed the closure of borders.
Then, a month ago, it hosted the first direct flight of tourists from Canada after the reopening of restricted holiday trips for foreigners in thepost-Covid-19 stage, which until now were limited to the poles located on the islets of the north-central and southern part of the island.
This Monday, October 12th most of the country’s air terminals resumed activity, but the capital did not, despite being in the third phase of the reducing and having control of the coronavirus outbreak, Manuel Marrero said at last Friday’s roundtable.
St. Kitts Tourism Minister Lindsay Grant has said American Airlines will begin flights from the U.S. on November 7.
