Southwest Airlines Lands in Havana

With 156 passengers onboard, U.S. carrier Southwest Airlines launched Monday its inaugural flight to Havana, a city the company will be flying to a couple of times a day from Tampa and once daily from Fort Lauderdale, both cities in the state of Florida.

The cutting-ribbon ceremony was headed by Southwest Airlines President Gary Kelly, who told the press how enthused and excited he is with this new connection between the U.S. and Cuba in terms of scheduled flights.

Southwest Airlines, which is already serving the sought-after Cuban travel destination of Varadero, will kick off service to Santa Clara, in central Cuba, on December 15.

“We’ll be flying to this beautiful country for many decades to come,” said Mr. Kelly, whose company now jumps on the bandwagon of U.S. airlines flying to Cuba on a regular basis.

Southwest Airlines’ Development Manager Manuel de Oyarzabal said the $59 airfare for the Cuba flights will get even cheaper as weeks roll on.

Founded in 1971, Southwest Airlines has more than 52,000 employees as of July 2016 and operates more than 3,900 departures a day during peak travel season. As of 2014, it carried the most domestic passengers of any U.S. airline. As of July 2016, Southwest Airlines has scheduled services to 98 destinations in the United States and eight  countries.