Key West-Havana flights resuming for first time since 1962

Posted on Wednesday, 10.30.13

Key West-Havana flights resuming for first time since 1962
BY SEAN KINNEY
KEYSNET.COM

For the first time since 1962, regularly scheduled air travel between
Key West and Havana is returning.

Beginning Nov. 15, a Miami-based travel company says it will offer
chartered flights from Key West International Airport to Jose Marti
International Airport in Cuba for small groups of qualifying travelers.

"But they still have a lot of work to do in a short period of time,"
Monroe County Airports Director Peter Horton said.

The process began in 2009 with a request to U.S. Customs and Border
Protection to designate Key West International as an official point of
entry.

Following that was a three-phase, two-year, $2.25 million project to
have the airport reclassified as a federal inspection station, instead
of the current label of a general aviation facility.

Horton said that with the upgrades the feds signed off in October 2011,
it left it up to industry operators to begin offering service.

That role is being filled by Miami-based Mambi Travel and airline Air
MarBrisa, which already offers flights to Cuba from Miami, Tampa and New
York.

Horton said before flights can begin, Mambi has to finalize an agreement
with Air MarBrisa, with the fixed base operator in Key West and get a
final sign-off from Customs and Border Protection.

Flights will leave Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 3:30 p.m.,
returning the following morning. Cost aboard a Metro II turboprop
airplane is $449 round-trip. Each flight will be able to accommodate 10
people, including the pilot.

Mamba Travel spokesman Isaac Valdes said that "we just started
advertising today and we've pretty much got the flight booked for that
[first] date."

On the Customs and Border Protection approval timeline, he said, "We
don't foresee any problems there." He added, "It's going to be a
historical day."

Flights, expected to take between 30 minutes and 45 minutes each way,
will originate from the fixed-base operator portion of the Key West
airport where charters and private aircraft are maintained.

"There won't be any use of the terminals," Horton said.

Still, the new flights don't mean anyone can just step up and buy a
ticket to go to Cuba.

Rather, the Office of Foreign Assets Control in the U.S. Department of
the Treasury regulates travel to Cuba. Would-be visitors must obtain
either a general or specific license to make the trip.

A general license gives "blanket authorization" for the holder to engage
in travel to Cuba for broad activities: Visiting "close relatives" who
are either Cuban nationals or Americans working in Cuba for the U.S.
government; official business; journalistic, educational or religious
activities; professional research; and "commercial marketing, sales
negotiation, accompanied delivery or servicing in Cuba" of
telecommunications-related items, agricultural commodities, medicine or
medical devices.

A specific license is considered when the nature of the travel isn't
covered by a general license. That includes visiting close relatives who
aren't nationals or government employees, freelance journalism,
educational exchanges, academic seminars or conferences, athletic
competitions, participation in a public performance, and humanitarian
projects and research.

Source: "Key West-Havana flights resuming for first time since 1962 -
Florida Keys - MiamiHerald.com" -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/30/3720387/key-west-havana-flights-resuming.html