United Airlines’ Inaugural Havana Flight Lands

The first commercial flight from Newark to Cuba took off Tuesday morning after passengers received a celebratory welcome at the departure gate decorated with blue and white balloons while salsa music played and Cuban food was served.

The inaugural United Airlines flight from Newark Liberty International Airport was sold out, with about 150 passengers aboard, said Jonathan Guerin, a spokesman for the airline.

"I am full of happiness. It's a dream to think it's the first trip of many more," Caridad López of West New York, who moved from the island seven years ago, said as she held a plate with some fruit and a croquette. "And the relationship between Cuba and the United States may improve and that makes me happy."

The direct flight is the first of daily trips from Newark to the capital city of Havana as part of President Obama’s efforts to normalize relations with the communist nation. The flight arrived Tuesday around 2:50 p.m. in Cuba, which is in national mourning due to the death of former president Fidel Castro.

United’s daily nonstop flight from Newark Liberty International Airport will provide an important gateway to Cuba from the Newark/New York City region, the largest metropolitan area in the country and home to the second-largest population of Cuban Americans. For more than 20 years, United has offered the Newark/New York City region the most flights to the most destinations around the world.

United offers 91 daily nonstop flights to 52 destinations across Latin America and the Caribbean from its Houston hub. Bush Intercontinental will be an important gateway for service to Havana and will directly connect 20 markets across the central and western United States to Cuba with just one stop. The Cuban-American population in the Houston metropolitan area ranks among the top ten cities in the country.