Spanish Airline Air Nostrum Offers Use Of Its Aircraft To Avoid Embargo

Spanish Airline Air Nostrum Offers Use Of Its Aircraft To Avoid Embargo
/ 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 14 October 2016 — Executives of the Spanish airline
Air Nostrum have offered Cuban authorities the use of their aircraft to
travel from Cuba to the United States and the Caribbean, in an attempt
to evade the mechanisms of the US embargo, by which the assets of the
Cuban State could be seized in the United States to compensate the
victims of expropriations at the beginning of the 1959 Revolution.

Carlos Bertomeu, President of Air Nostrum, explained that his initiative
has the backing of the Iberia company, for which Latin America is a
highly strategic market. Bertomeu spoke from Havana, where a Spanish
business mission organized by the Council of Chambers of Commerce of
Valencia and the Valencian Community and Generalitat is exploring
business options in Cuba.

The opening of flights between Cuba and the United States have so far
operated in only one direction for fear of confiscation of the property
of the Cuban State, which could be seized to satisfy the claims American
citizens whose properties in Cuba were expropriated by the state in the
sixties.

With the proposal of Air Nostrum, the Valencian company would provide
the flights, while Cuban Aviation would run the marketing. Bertomeu has
experience in this type of business with other companies such as Iberia
and Scandinavian Airlines.

"The market between Cuba and the United States is already real. The
potential is enormous," the President of Air Nostrum said, referring to
a possible lifting of the US embargo on the island.

"We have an excellent fleet of short and medium haul planes. And we are
convinced that there is enough demand in any corridor," he said.

The information contrasts however with the actual numbers of air traffic
between the two countries. According to a report published by the Miami
newspaper, El Nuevo Herald, of 30 daily flights from American Airlines
in the first five days of this week, "only two filled half their
capacity and some only had 12 or 13 passengers."

The Valencia Community has the fourth highest level of trade with Cuba
of any Spanish region. Last year bilateral trade reached 100 million
dollars.

Source: Spanish Airline Air Nostrum Offers Use Of Its Aircraft To Avoid
Embargo / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/spanish-airline-air-nostrum-offers-use-of-its-aircraft-to-avoid-embargo-14ymedio/