American Airlines Picks Cienfuegos to Start Cuba Flights (+ Video)

Galo Beltran has been a very busy man these days. He’s been working hard in Cuba, involved in all the preps for American Airlines’ inaugural flight to Cuba. And there are plenty of reasons for that. This polite man who thanked the press time and again for attending this historic moment, sat down with Caribbean News Digital at the Cienfuegos International Airport just minutes before that first flight landed on Cuban soil.

“We’re deeply committed to being competitive every step of the way. We want both the Cuban people and foreign visitors from everywhere to know Cuba beyond Havana, to have the chance to land in Cienfuegos and depart from Varadero, to arrive in Holguin and leave from Santa Clara,” he said with a smile. “Once we add Havana to our flight list, opportunities will be endless.”

Cienfuegos is one of Cuba’s top cruise destinations, together with Havana and Santiago de Cuba. American Airlines is wasting no time and is working closely with cruise companies already docking in this southern city of Cuba.

But the array of possibilities goes a tad further. American Eagle –AA’s regional affiliate- will start flying to other Cuban destinations whose airports are not fit to accommodate large aircraft. Good cases in point are Manzanillo, Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo.

American Airlines is so far the only U.S. company properly registered in the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba. This condition gives AA the chance to begin selling air tickets on the island nation.

Gabriel Crespo, Director of Sales for American Airlines, also landed in Cienfuegos Wednesday and told Caribbean News Digital the company will soon start selling tickets in offices and outlets in Havana.

“This is not only the first commercial flight. The fact of the matter is that American Airlines will be flying to five different Cuban destinations,” AA’s Vice President of Global Marketing Fernand Fernandez told Caribbean News Digital in the city of Cienfuegos, some 200 kilometers from Havana, where the company’s first scheduled flight landed on September 7 at 11:00am ET.

As AA pieces together its much-anticipated scheduled flights to Havana –the airline got the green light by the US Department of Transportation earlier this month to serve the Cuban capital- it will be flying to Camaguey and Santa Clara on Sept. 9 and to Varadero on Sept. 11. Another American Airlines flights touched down this morning in the city of Holguin in eastern Cuba.

The company will use A319 and Boeing 737 aircraft for its Cuban routes, averaging 120 to 164 seats. Mr. Fernandez also said AA will open its office in the exclusive commercial neighborhood of Miramar, in Havana.

AA Also Opens Holguin Flights

American Airlines’ Flight 1041 landed on Sept. 7 at the Frank Pais International Airport in the eastern city of Holguin. The Boeing 737 had taken off from MIA with 92 passengers. Now AA will fly twice daily to that major travel destination.

Once American Airlines commences flights to Havana later this year, the company will have 91 weekly flights to half a dozen Cuban cities. All flights will depart from the city of Miami, with the exception of a daily flight that will span the Charlotte-Havana route.