The US airline JetBlue will make the first regular commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than half a century next Wednesday, the Cuban authorities said Thursday. The August 31 inaugural flight -- the first of its kind since 1961 -- is scheduled to take off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and arrive in the central Cuban city Santa Clara.
"The revival of regular direct flights is a positive step and a contribution to the process of improving relations between the two countries," Cuban Deputy Transportation Minister Eduardo Rodriguez told local media.
Wednesday's scheduled journey will kick off a new flight schedule that includes 110 daily trips, with 90 already authorized by both governments to nine Cuban airports, many of them in or near tourism hotspots.
Twenty daily routes to Havana are pending, with airlines requesting the US authorities to triple that number, Rodriguez said.
