American in Cuba: The Setbacks and Successes of Resumed Air Service Between Former Cold War Foes

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    After over 50 years without commercial air service between former cold war adversaries Cuba and the US, scheduled flights between the two countries have resumed, but not without a hitch. Image via golden querencia

    APEX Insight: Although flights between the US and Cuba have been running for a little over a month now, numerous challenges – including visitation restrictions, security doubts and technology glitches – remain with regards to the establishment of operations in the budding US tourist destination.

    As the saying goes, “good fences make good neighbors,” but when the fences have been ironclad and bolted shut for over a half-century, well, the conditions for neighborly cooperation aren’t already in place. After over 50 years without commercial air service between former cold war adversaries Cuba and the US, scheduled flights between the two countries have resumed, but not without a hitch.

    JetBlue Cuba
    On August 31, JetBlue Flight 387 became the first direct commercial service between the US and Cuba in over 50 years. Image: Alexandre Meneghini via Reuters

    On August 31, JetBlue Flight 387 became the first direct commercial service between the US and Cuba in over 50 years, following an agreement made by the Obama Administration seeking to normalize relations with Cuba. Florida-based Silver Airways followed a day later with a 30-person flight to Santa Clara.

    And, although American Airlines was the third to venture to the Caribbean island, the flight’s Miami departure location made it perhaps the most meaningful. At a ceremony prior to takeoff, American’s vice-president of Miami operations, Ralph Lopez, drew on the cultural and geographic ties between the island and the US city, home to the majority of Cuban exiles living in the US. “Today is historic not only for American Airlines but also for Miami, the heart and soul of the Cuban-American community in the United States,” he said.

    Of the eight US carriers sanctioned to service US-Cuba flights, American will have the largest presence in the country. The carrier already operates eight daily flights to five Cuban cities and will launch another five daily routes to Havana from Miami and Charlotte later this year, amounting to a total of 13 daily flights to six destinations in Cuba. The conferral of a large number of routes to American is no coincidence; “American has been operating charter service to Cuba for more than 25 years, providing us with unmatched experience and familiarity with ground operations in Cuba,” said Laura Masvidal, Corporate Communications, Latin America and the Caribbean, American Airlines, in an exclusive interview with APEX Media.

    But there are some things that even experience cannot mitigate. For one, American tourism to Cuba remains barred under statute, a sign that, although thwarted by the Obama administration, the American embargo against Cuba remains intact. In accordance with rules outlined by the US Department of the Treasury, American citizens must fall under one of 12 categories – including family visits, official government business, journalistic activity, professional research, educational activities, humanitarian projects and more – to be granted entry into Cuba. However, the strength with which these rules are being enforced remains unclear.

    “The start of service to a new station is always challenging and the start of service to Cuba was particularly challenging.” €” Laura Masvidal, American Airlines

    Meanwhile, American news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, have reported that US carriers are facing obstacles regarding the incompatibility of technical systems and wireless devices in Cuba. Of these issues, Masvidal says, “The start of service to a new station is always challenging and the start of service to Cuba was particularly challenging [for American Airlines] because we started service to five stations almost simultaneously … Fortunately, as a result of our fact-finding and operational readiness trips, we established strong relationships and were able to verify our systems and applications that allow us to check in customers, print bag tags and board flights.”

    And if visa restrictions and technical hiccups weren’t enough, congressional Republicans are pushing to suspend service to Cuba until further inspection of each of the 10 Cuban airports certified as “last points of departure” for direct commercial flights to the United States has been completed. Following the submission of a legislation to ground US-Cuba operations in early September, Senator Marco Rubio said in a statement, “With so many serious security threats around the world, it is irresponsible to leave key aspects of our airport security in the hands of the anti-American, repressive regime in Cuba.”

    “We would not fly to any airport that we felt did not meet our high safety and security standards ­- whether the service is scheduled or chartered.” €” Laura Masvidal, American Airlines

    The validity of such claims have been brought into question by the Transportation Security Administration, which has said on several occasions that the airports have been inspected and meet international standards. And, on Friday, misgivings regarding the absence of federal air marshals on flights were quelled when the director of the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s department for the US, Josefina Vidal, posted on Twitter that arrangements have been made for the deployment of US air marshals on commercial flights. According to Masvidal, American’s passengers have no cause for concern: “We would not fly to any airport that we felt did not meet our high safety and security standards ­- whether the service is scheduled or chartered.”

    As the US and Cuba continue to find their bearings in this embryonic stage of restored diplomatic relations, stakeholders will need to continue to ensure that the fine balance between accessibility and security is maintained and that, in President Obama’s words, Cuba isn’t “turned into some tourist playground for the United States.”