SANTA CLARA, Cuba (AP) — The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century landed in the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War.
The flight of JetBlue 387 opens a new era of U.S.-Cuba travel, with about 300 flights a week connecting the U.S. with an island cut off from most Americans by the 55-year-old trade embargo on Cuba and formal ban on U.S. citizens engaging in tourism on the island.
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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx tweeted Monday that he would be on board the flight.
U.S. law still prohibits tourist travel to Cuba, but there are now a dozen categories of authorized travel, including family visits, journalist visits and educational activities.
Today, I'm excited to announce that I'll be on the first scheduled commercial flight in more than half a century. #Cuba
— Anthony Foxx (@SecretaryFoxx) August 29, 2016