Cuba travel set to take off as flight options expand
By Mimi Whitefield
mwhitefield@MiamiHerald.com
Miami is no longer the only show in town when it comes to Cuba travel.
Charter firms have been authorized to offer service from airports around
the country, including Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.
Destination Cuba
U.S. and Puerto Rican airports that offer, or will soon begin, charter
service to Cuba:
• Miami International Airport
• Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (flights begin Sept. 17)
• Tampa International Airport
• John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York
• Los Angeles International Airport
• Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• International airports in these cities have been approved to begin
passenger service between the United States and Cuba but haven't yet
begun to offer flights: Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, New
Orleans, Oakland, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Fort Myers.
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Charter companies serving Florida airports
Miami International Airport
• ABC Charters
• Airline Brokers Co.
• C&T Charters
• CTS — Cuba Travel Services
• Gulfstream Charters
• Marazul Charters
• Wilson International Services
• Xael Charters
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
• Airline Brokers Co. (Service begins Sept. 17)
Tampa International Airport
• ABC Charters
• Xael Charters
• Island Travel & Tours (service not yet scheduled)
Cuba flight patterns at MIA
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011* Totals
Arrival flights 2,558 2,915 2,883 3,807 2,691 14,854
Departure flights 2,568 2,932 2,948 3,809 2,736 14,993
Arrival Passengers 100,778 121,755 208,029 327,620 213,800 971,982
Departure Passengers 104,608 116,231 205,800 319,677 209,160 955,476
* January through July 2011
Prepared by Miami-Dade Aviation Department / Marketing Division
Vivian Mannerud has been in the business of arranging air charters to
Cuba long enough to have seen it all — from the passengers who wear
several hats on their heads to avoid extra baggage fees to the woman who
stuffed sausages in her curlers. The grease running down her face was a
giveaway.
Since 1982, Mannerud, chief executive and founder of Coral Gables-based
Airline Brokers Co., has transported Cuban families, as well as
politicians, former political prisoners, athletes and humanitarian
supplies, to and from the island. This pioneer in the Cuban charter
business has seen the governments of Cuba and the United States shut
down travel amid political tensions, and recalibrated her business as
some U.S. presidents allowed more travel and others pared it down.
Now, the policy is for more expansive travel and Airline Brokers and
other charter companies are once again poised for change.
Earlier this year, the United States authorized people-to-people
exchanges that make it easier for a wider variety of Americans to visit
Cuba, lifted some restrictions on academic trips, and expanded the
number of cities that can serve as gateways for Cuba travel from three
to 15.
While many have embraced the changes — a record number of travelers from
the United States are expected this year — others have criticized the
flights because landing fees and payments for other services flow to
Cuban government coffers.
Miami International Airport has long been the main gateway for Cuba
travel — eight charter companies handled 7,616 departing and arriving
flights last year — and it will continue to be.
But now other U.S. cities are getting into the act. Airports in Tampa,
Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers are among those that are now authorized
for Cuban charter service.
The first charter flights to Cuba in nearly 50 years left from Tampa
International Airport last week and Cuba service will begin from Fort
Lauderdale Saturday.
Miami-based Xael Charters timed its inaugural flight from Tampa to
Havana last Thursday to coincide with the feast day of Our Lady of
Charity of Cobre, Cuba's patron saint. The airport staged a "Tampa to
Havana Reconnected" event at the gate with live music and cake before
the departure of the sold-out flight.
"We wanted to expand our business and Tampa historically has had strong
ties with Cuba,'' said Xiomara Almaguer-Levy, Xael's president and chief
executive. "It was here in Tampa, specifically Ybor City, where Cuba's
national hero, Jose Marti, found the unconditional support of thousands
of cigar workers'' that was crucial to the success of Cuba's fight for
independence from Spain.
Xael now offers five weekly flights from Miami to Havana and flies twice
a week from Miami to Holguin. It plans departures from Tampa every Thursday.
"The time is right,'' said Almaguer-Levy.
This year, Cuban-Americans are expected to take a record 400,000 trips
to Cuba, according to estimates from the charter companies. The number
has been steadily climbing since 2009 when the Obama administration
began allowing Cuban-Americans to visit the island at will.
More Americans traveling on educational and people-to-people exchanges,
which are designed to foster relationships with ordinary Cubans, are
expected to boost the numbers even higher.
On Sept. 10, another South Florida charter company, ABC Charters, was
scheduled to launch its inaugural flight from Tampa, and Cuba has
granted landing rights to a third company, San Diego-based Island Travel
& Tours, which also wants to begin charter service from Tampa, possibly
by October.
Tessie Aral, president of ABC Charters, says it remains to be seen if
Tampa can support three charter operations.
But she said her analysis showed about 100 Central Florida passengers a
week were traveling on ABC flights from Miami — enough to support a
weekly or twice weekly flight from Tampa during peak season.
Aral said ABC, which is owned by her mother Maria "Machi" Brieva, also
has been authorized to begin charters from Dallas. She thinks the market
has potential, especially as a jumping off point for educational
exchanges from colleges and universities in the Midwest. But for the
time being, Aral said she prefers to concentrate on service from Tampa
and Miami using leased American Airlines planes.
Airlines such as American, Delta and JetBlue aren't allowed to offer
regular service to Cuba, but they are permitted to lease aircraft to the
charter companies. Some airlines see another advantage in having their
planes land in Havana. "Some of them want to make connections and build
relationships for the future'' if commercial flights resume some day,
said Mannerud.
On Saturday, it will be Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International
Airport's turn to inaugurate Cuba service when Mannerud's Airline
Brokers begins weekly service using a leased JetBlue aircraft.
At $379, the flight from Fort Lauderdale will be slightly cheaper than
Airline Broker's Miami flights ($409-$439) and will be a convenience for
Cuban-Americans living in Broward and Palm Beach counties, Mannerud said.
Airline Brokers still plans to keep its full schedule of flights to
Havana and Cienfuegos from Miami. Mannerud said she also might be
interested in the Boston market as a source of passengers on educational
and research trips.
While Florida cities have the advantage of being closest to Cuba,
existing charter companies and newcomers are eyeing the opportunities of
flying from airports such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Dallas.
The new embarkation cities are good news for passengers such as Gladys
Ponce, who on a recent day waited patiently in line with her husband and
3 ½-year-old son Jareth to check in for a Gulfstream Air Charter flight
from Miami to Havana.
The family lives in Tucson, Ariz., and had spent $1,000 just to get to
Miami.
All the bundles they were taking to friends and relatives in Batabano,
Cuba, had been carefully weighed in advance so they knew exactly how
much they would be paying in extra baggage fees and wouldn't be getting
another economic jolt when their baggage was weighed. In fact, Cuba
travelers take so much luggage that charters do not fly at full capacity.
But the family's next trip may be far cheaper. They'll have the option
of traveling from Los Angeles or possibly even Houston or Dallas.
Critics of charters from Miami have long complained that the fares are
too high for a relatively short trip.
"I have heard complaints [from constituents] of price gouging and
exorbitant baggage fees,'' said U.S. Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami.
But the charter companies say that a number of factors make their
flights more expensive.
First, they are charters and must lease their planes from other
companies that also must make a profit.
The price of most tickets also includes medical insurance while in Cuba,
U.S. departure taxes and landing fees in Cuba, said Bob Guild, vice
president of Marazul Charters.
Then because the U.S. embargo against Cuba prohibits them from having
their own operations bases in Cuba, the charter companies must
sub-contract in Cuba for ticket and ramp agents and other services, said
charter operators.
It also would be cheaper to do night flights, but Mannerud said the
charters are required to fly during the day so Customs can inspect
passengers without incurring overtime expenses.
"We also have to deal with tons of attorneys, tons of regulations and
all the agencies we must report to in order to make sure we're
compliant,'' she said.
Prior to June, when U.S. Customs and Border Patrol approved a dozen
additional airports to handle flights to and from Cuba, the only way to
legally travel from the United States was to take a charter from Miami
or New York with occasional flights from Los Angeles during peak travel
times.
Among the charter companies planning to roll out service from additional
cities are:
• C & T Charters, which has offices in Coral Gables and Key West. It
expects to begin offering service from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 16
and Chicago on Oct. 18.
"There is still some paperwork to be done,'' said Marcelo Santos, vice
president of operations. The charter company currently offers daily
flights from Miami to Havana, twice weekly service between Miami and
Camaguey and weekly New York-Havana service.
• CTS (Cuba Travel Services), which is based in Long Beach, Calif. The
company had a shakeout trip from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Santiago,
Cuba, last month and plans to begin regular charter service on the route
Nov. 4. "We'll see how it goes'' and add another San Juan flight if the
market is there, said Michael Zuccato, CTS general manager.
The charter company also plans to resume weekly nonstop flights from Los
Angeles on Nov. 1 using Continental planes and is interested in
providing service from Houston and seasonal charters from Oakland,
Calif. Zuccato said CTS also hopes to offer service from Fort Lauderdale
but airport officials said last week that they hadn't been contacted by
the company.
CTS currently offers nine weekly flights from MIA to Havana and Cienfuegos
The company's niche will continue to be travel by Cuban-Americans
visiting their families, but Zuccato said Californians, especially, are
interested in people-to-people trips.
• Marazul, a pioneer in the Cuba charter industry with more than three
decades in the business. It hopes to begin weekly service from Atlanta
in December using Delta planes and resume weekly service from New York's
JFK, a market that it hasn't served since 2004, on Nov. 6, said Guild.
Marazul currently offers daily flights between Miami and Havana ($429 to
$449 round trip) and twice weekly flights to Camaguey ($499). It'll also
book travelers on flights from New York and Los Angeles provided by
other charter companies.
Guild said he expects academic travel to be a big category. Schools no
longer have to apply for a specific license from the Treasury's Office
of Foreign Assets Control to put together Cuban study trips. But they
won't be able to organize a spring-break excursion. Students must take
courses for credit.
The charter companies say it's too early to tell what kind of numbers
travelers on people-to-people exchanges will add to the mix. But most of
the travel groups are small, with 16 to 30 people.
A few of the companies that had planned to offer such trips also have
had their wings clipped. Luxury travel provider Abercrombie & Kent, for
example, had sold out 13 trips before it learned that its plan to use
the license of a nonprofit group wouldn't be allowed under OFAC regulations.
Many of the companies offering people-to-people exchanges are trying to
tap into the mystique about Cuba that has developed during the 50-plus
years of the embargo.
A recent survey by Travel Leaders, the largest travel agency franchise
in North America, showed 75 percent of nearly 1,000 consumers surveyed
throughout the United States said they wanted to visit Cuba or would
consider it if all restrictions on travel were lifted. Twenty percent
said they would travel immediately.
Guild says in 2003 — the last full year of people-to-people exchanges
before a policy change by the Bush administration — about 40,000
Americans in that category traveled to the island.
Two South Florida congressmen, however, have problems with the
people-to-people trips.
On April 11, the day the first people-to-people trip in 7 ½ years took
off from Miami International Airport, Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart
issued a statement saying there had been "numerous abuses amounting to
thinly veiled tourism.'' Those on the trips are supposed to engage in
purposeful travel that will promote exchanges with the Cuban people.
He and Rivera want to roll back travel regulations for Cuban-Americans
to what they were before President Obama took office. Bills they have
proposed would limit remittances that can be sent to the island and
severely restrict family visits by Cuban-Americans, but Rivera's goes a
step further calling for the elimination of people-to-people visits. The
legislators say the intent of their bills is to keep money from flowing
to the Castro regime.
But Xael's Almaguer-Levy said unrestricted travel must continue. To her,
it's more than just business. "It's unfair that families can't meet
whenever they want,'' she said. "The most important relationship that
exists in Cuba is the family relationship. Political interests shouldn't
work against families.''
"It's very frustrating,'' said ABC's Aral. "Just when things are going
well, someone wants to target'' Cuba travel.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/11/v-fullstory/2402439/cuba-travel-set-to-take-off-as.html
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