Cuba air charters can’t escape politics

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Sunday, 09.11.11
Cuba air charters can’t escape politics
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Companies that ferry travelers to Cuba are often targets of those who want to limit travel to the Communist island.

BY MIMI WHITEFIELD
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Ronelvys Gonzalez managed to balance a flat screen TV, a bicycle, baby stroller, playpen and bags of plastic-wrapped clothing on a single luggage cart as he waited to check in for a recent charter flight to Cuba at Miami International Airport.

He lives in Perrine but his wife, 4-month-old son, aunts and other relatives live in Havana. The $2,500 worth of merchandise he had assembled was for them. While he wasn’t too happy about the excess baggage fees he was expecting to pay, his real worry is proposed legislation that would put a crimp in growing travel between the United States and Cuba.

For the air charter companies that ferry passengers to and from Cuba, his dilemma is their dilemma.

They’ve seen their business grow briskly since the Obama administration began allowing Cuban-Americans to make unlimited family visits in 2009. And new rules announced this year will allow a broader range of Americans to travel to Cuba and open up new gateway cities such as Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta that can now handle Cuba travel.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/11/2402379/cuba-air-charters-cant-escape.html