Charter service begins from Fort Lauderdale

The first American charter flight to Cuba in decades arrived in Havana on Saturday afternoon after a spray of water christened its departure from Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, one of the first under a relaxed Obama administration travel policy.

The flight was the first of a weekly non-stop service between Fort Lauderdale and the Cuban capital, the Miami-based Airline Brokers Company said.

Using aircraft leased from the carrier, JetBlue, the Airline Brokers charter will depart Florida every Saturday.

As check-in took on a carnival air, the 110 charter passengers were treated to Cuban-style soft drinks, straw hats and balloons.

"It's a very festive day. I'm very happy," Vivian Mannerud, founder and president of Airline Brokers, told reporters as he waved a Cuban flag.

First regular service

The charter is the first regular service from Fort Lauderdale under the Obama administration's policy to free up travel to Cuba.

Fort Lauderdale joined a dozen airports, including Miami, New York and Los Angeles earlier this year as locations authorised to handle Cuba charters from the United States and Puerto Rico. Tampa in eastern Florida and San Juan were the first airports to initiate new services.

The round-trip flight from Fort Lauderdale costs US$379. Cuba services from Miami cost between US$409 and US$439, Mannerud said.

Fort Lauderdale had been out of the Cuba passenger loop for the past 24 years, although there have been occasional flights carrying medical relief supplies to Cuba in the intervening years.

As the Mariel boat lift began in the spring of 1980, Fort Lauderdale was officially designated as the South Florida gateway to and from Cuba.

It retained this status until June 1987, though in practice Miami International Airport handled most of the charter flights to and from the island, which is still under a full trade, commercial and economic embargo since 1962.

Until that designation changed, charter companies using Miami International had to get a waiver to take off and land.

The Broward County airport has been seeking permission to handle flights to and from Cuba at least since 1999, when it made a request during the Clinton administration's relaxed trade restrictions on Cuba.