Archive for January, 2011
Obama Eases Restrictions on Travel to Cuba, Airports Can Offer Direct Flights
The Obama administration has moved to ease travel restrictions to Cuba in a late Friday announcement. According to Politico:
Allowing religious organizations and certain educational institutions to travel to the country, increasing the amount that non-relatives can send to Cuba, and opening all U.S. airports to licensed chartered flights from the communist nation.
The White House announced the new measures late Friday night, likely anticipating the mixed reaction among some Democrats and Republicans to any move seen as inching toward rapprochement with the communist regime. They had been in the works for months, but political concerns – such as November’s midterm elections – held up the announcement.
Airports Can Offer Direct Flights
One key policy change is that airports will now be allowed to offer flights to Cuba with some restrictions. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal:
Airports seeking to offer direct air travel to Cuba will have to have the right infrastructure and will have to have a charter company lined up to provide the flights as part of President Obama’s new Cuban policy.
Specific regulations will be laid out in two to three weeks, the White House official said.
Airports will apply to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security. On the application, airports will have to show they have adequate customs and immigration infrastructure – in other words, they are truly an international airport capable of enforcing rules that apply to Cuba travel, the official said.