New air links raise hopes in Washington and Cuba
The first off JetBlue 387 were the TV cameramen, the US secretary of transportation and the airline executives. As the tropical sun beat the tarmac, the VIPs traded congratulations on the arrival of the first commercial flight from the US to Cuba in more than 50 years. Away from the cameras, a small but potentially more important group made its way through Santa Clara's single-terminal airport: a pair of backpackers from Oregon and a book editor from Chicago and his 16-year-old daughter — the first US tourists on the newly reestablished flights. By December, the four will have a lot of company, with some 300 direct flights a week scheduled from the US to 10 cities across Cuba. America's biggest airlines and the Obama administion hope the planes will carry hundreds of thousands of US travelers, both Cuban-Americans visiting family and sightseers who will turn the largest island in the Caribbean back into a major US vacation destination. For US airlines it's a chance to move into an untapped market less than an hour's flight from Miami. For Cubans, it means waves of demanding but high-tipping Americans could transform the landscape in cities like Santa Clara that have been off the well-trod tourist track for now. "The best tourist there is, is the American tourist," said 25-year-old Liban Bermudez as he sold 16-year-old Sophia Compton a pair of handmade leather sandals from his stand off Santa Clara's main plaza. "They're the ones that buy the most." For President Barack Obama, the reestablishment of commercial air links with Cuba is the last major chance to make a key part of his foreign policy legacy irreversible before he leaves office.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-09-05/general/new-air-links-raise-hopes-in-washington-and-cuba
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New air links raise hopes in Washington and Cuba
The first off JetBlue 387 were the TV cameramen, the US secretary of transportation and the airline executives. As the tropical sun beat the tarmac, the VIPs traded congratulations on the arrival of the first commercial flight from the US to Cuba in more than 50 years. Away from the cameras, a small but potentially more important group made its way through Santa Clara's single-terminal airport: a pair of backpackers from Oregon and a book editor from Chicago and his 16-year-old daughter — the first US tourists on the newly reestablished flights. By December, the four will have a lot of company, with some 300 direct flights a week scheduled from the US to 10 cities across Cuba. America's biggest airlines and the Obama administion hope the planes will carry hundreds of thousands of US travelers, both Cuban-Americans visiting family and sightseers who will turn the largest island in the Caribbean back into a major US vacation destination. For US airlines it's a chance to move into an untapped market less than an hour's flight from Miami. For Cubans, it means waves of demanding but high-tipping Americans could transform the landscape in cities like Santa Clara that have been off the well-trod tourist track for now. "The best tourist there is, is the American tourist," said 25-year-old Liban Bermudez as he sold 16-year-old Sophia Compton a pair of handmade leather sandals from his stand off Santa Clara's main plaza. "They're the ones that buy the most." For President Barack Obama, the reestablishment of commercial air links with Cuba is the last major chance to make a key part of his foreign policy legacy irreversible before he leaves office.<br/>
