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The
new round-trip, non-stop flight will operate every Tuesday
starting Dec. 1 in partnership with Cuba Travel Services, a
travel provider licensed by the U.S. government to arrange
flights to Cuba.
The two companies currently operate one of two other JFK-to-Havana
charter flights. Several other charter flights take passengers
to Cuba from Florida.
Under new rules initiated by U.S. President Barack Obama in
January a month after he announced detente with the former Cold
War adversary, U.S. airlines are permitted to fly to Cuba
without the need for special permission from the Treasury
Department.
However, U.S. and Cuban officials first need to negotiate a new
civil aviation agreement.
Representatives of both countries are scheduled to hold aviation
talks on Monday and Tuesday in Havana.
Normal airline service was interrupted by the U.S. trade embargo
imposed on Cuba in 1962.
U.S. tourism to Cuba is still banned but certain U.S. citizens
and Cuban-Americans are allowed to go on specially sanctioned
travel, which has been further relaxed by Obama, creating a
larger market for U.S. travel to the Communist-governed island.
The Cuba travel market is expected to grow further should the
United States lift either the tourism ban or the embargo.
Legislation proposing both is pending in the U.S. Congress.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman)
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