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Canadian airliner heads back to Cuba
after losing part of rudder
MONTREAL, 7 (AFP) - An Airbus A-310 operated
by Canadian charter company Air Transat
carrying 270 people was forced to return
to Cuba after part of its rudder fell off,
the airline said.
The flight left Varadero airport bound
for Quebec City on Sunday, but was forced
to turn back half an hour into its flight.
"Preliminary observations indicate
that a portion of the rudder detached from
the aircraft, as the flight was progressing
under normal conditions at its cruising
altitude," Air Transat said in a statement.
The firm said it immediately carried out
checks on nine other A-310s in its fleet,
but found no problems.
The 261 passengers and nine crew on the
plane were put up in hotels in Cuba and
were scheduled to arrive back in Quebec
on another flight Monday.
The affected aircraft, which entered service
in 1991, had its last mechanical inspection
only last week.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada
will launch an investigation, aided by the
airline and Airbus.
Sunday's drama came less than a week after
Air Transat agreed to a 7.6 million dollar
(six million US) compensation deal with
passengers on a 2001 trans-Atlantic flight
glided to an emergency landing in the Azores
after running out of fuel.
A number of passengers were injured when
the A-330 made an emergency landing.
Blanco heads to Mexico, Cuba on trade
trip
The Associated Press, March
06. 2005.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco heads to Mexico and
Cuba this week on a groundbreaking trip
to bolster business ties with Louisiana.
On Monday, Blanco travels to Cancun, Mexico
to accept the leadership of the Gulf of
Mexico States Accord. The accord between
Southern U.S. governors and their counterparts
in the Mexican states ringing the Gulf of
Mexico was founded in 1995 to promote economic
development and cultural exchange.
The presidency changes every year. Blanco
succeeds Quintana Roo state Gov. Joaquin
Hendricks, who took over from Gov. Jeb Bush
of Florida. Blanco's economic development
secretary, Michael Olivier, Port of New
Orleans officials and a handful of lawmakers
will also be on hand at the Cancun ceremony.
On Tuesday, Blanco flies into Havana and
will become Louisiana's first chief executive
to visit Cuba. She is leading a state delegation
to Cuba for four days. She said she wants
to win business for Louisiana ports and
companies seeking to expand trade with Cuba.
The trip has come under attack by opponents
of Cuban President Fidel Castro's government,
which has been in power since 1959.
Blanco argues that other states are in
trade contact with Cuba and that Louisiana
can gain a lot from encouraging more trade.
"She's looking for trade opportunities
and sees some Midwestern states have partnered
with Cuba with great success," said
Anna Lopez, director of Tulane University's
Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute. "Poor
Louisiana could use all the help it can
get, and this is all perfectly legal, so
why not do it?"
Louisiana has historical ties to Cuba and
continues to be a main departure point for
goods sold to Cuba. The U.S. embargo on
Cuba was relaxed by Congress in 2000.
In December, Olivier led a delegation to
Havana and the Port of Lake Charles signed
a "memorandum of understanding"
with Cuba acknowledging mutual trade interests.
Since the embargo was loosened to allow
shipments of agricultural and medical products,
Lake Charles has emerged as a port with
a foothold in the island market. Last year,
about 80,000 tons of agricultural goods,
mostly peas that originated in the Pacific
Northwest, departed Lake Charles for Cuba.
The potential for more trade is great.
For example, before Castro's revolution
and the embargo, shipments of rice from
Lake Charles to Cuba totaled more than 300,000
tons a year.
The Port of New Orleans is also pursuing
business with Havana. New Orleans' port
was the single biggest trading partner with
Cuba before the communist revolution.
The tonnages shipped to Havana have risen
during the past three years, making New
Orleans No. 1 among U.S. ports doing business
with Cuba last year.
Gary LaGrange, the chief executive of the
Port of New Orleans, and four other port
officials will accompany Blanco.
Almost $194 million worth of goods shipped
to the nation came from Louisiana ports,
topping the figures from Alabama, Texas
and Florida.
Since December 2001, when the first shipment
to Cuba under the relaxed embargo departed
from New Orleans, Louisiana has handled
almost 56 percent of all U.S. exports to
Cuba, according to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and
Economic Council. Since then, the yearly
gross has jumped from $2.3 million to about
$200 million, the trade council reports.
Louisiana ports face competition. Last
month, the executive director of the port
at Gulfport, Miss., traveled to Havana and
renewed an agreement that Gulfport hopes
will make it the premier facility for container
cargo bound for Cuba.
"Competition among ports in the United
States is very, very aggressive right now,
so when free trade with Cuba becomes a reality,
it is going to be equally aggressive,"
Gulfport's Donald Alle said.
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