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Flying to Havana, Cuba
gets a bit easier
WABC
Eyewitness News,
December 19, 2006.
(New York - WABC, December 19, 2006) -
Traveling to Havana, Cuba just got easier.
Non-stop flights between New York's JFK
and Havana, Cuba began taking off.
But as Eyewitness News reporter Phil Lipof
reports, the flights aren't open to everyone.
Terminal Four at JFK. It looks like any
other day. But if you look closer, you'll
see that the departure screen reads "Havana."
For the first time, direct flights from
New York to Cuba are available.
"We're very happy to provide this
service so passengers can fly directly,"
said Rick Reposa, of C & T Charters,
Inc. "They don't have to go through
Miami."
Reposa is CFO of C & T Charters, which
is the company offering the service. It
is sanctioned by both the Cuban and U.S.
Governments.
The flights have been leaving Miami since
1991. But New Jersey is home to the seconds
largest Cuban-American community in the
country.
So JFK was an obvious choice.
At one Cuban restaurant in Union City,
there were mixed reactions to the flight.
"I would like to go to my country
to see my friends, all the family that I
have there," Cuban-American Susan Hernandez
said. "But I don't want to go back
with Castro there. I don't want to give
Castro my money."
Cuban-American Rigoberto Bagarotti says
he would go in a heartbeat, and adds he
is disgusted by the U.S. embargo.
"I have half my family living over
here, and the other half living in Cuba,"
he said.
He and many others say it's also not fair
that in the past, travelers would have to
fly to Miami first.
There will be two more flights in December,
on the 24th before Christmas and the 31st
before New Year's. After that, they are
scheduled every two weeks.
The company says the flights will increase
as demand does.
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