WORDS: HALIMA ALI. IMAGES: AWL IMAGES; ISTOCKPHOTO
news | transport CUBA TRAVEL American Airlines to offer Cuba flights
Havana cityscape, Cuba
AMERICAN AIRLINES IS to commence charter flights between Los Angeles and Havana, offering the only nonstop connection between LA and the Cuban capital. Te flights, sold by Cuba Travel Services,
launch on December 12 aboard a Boeing 737 aircraft operating every Saturday. Te airline has also announced plans to add a Saturday flight between Miami and Havana. Including the new LAX and Miami routes,
American — which has flown sanctioned charter flights to Cuba since 1991 — will be operating
CRUISECONTROL
AZAMARA CLUB CRUISES has launched a new mobile app designed to give prospective customers the experience of being aboard a ship before they even set foot on one. The Azamara 3DI app
features four videos and uses virtual reality technology to offer future guests 360-degree shipboard views or alternatively, enjoy one of three South and
Central American destinations. Immersive films show zip lining. through the rainforests of Costa Rica, a moonlit carriage ride through the streets of Colombia and a Panama Canal crossing. The videos work with Android
operating systems and on iPhones, iPads and iPods running iOS 6.0 or above. Content is also viewable online.
azamaraclubcruises.com
22 weekly flights from Miami, Tampa and Los Angeles to
five Cuban destinations:
Camaguey, Cienfuegos, Havana, Holguin and Santa Clara. In total, the airline will operate around 1,200 charter flights to Cuba, more than any other airline. Te announcement came as President Barack
Obama pledged to make it possible for travelers to fly on regularly scheduled commercial flights to Cuba by the end of the year — for the first time since the Cuba trade embargo was enacted more than 50 years ago.
Since the start of the year, relations between
the two countries have increasingly thawed. In August, Secretary of State John Kerry presided over the raising of the American flag at the newly reopened US Embassy in Havana, in a ceremony attended by ASTA president Zane Kerby. Te easing of travel regulations has seen Delta,
American and JetBlue all increase their charter flights to the island and in June, Travelport announced new GDS software that enables US-based travel agencies to sell and book flights to and from Cuba for authorized travelers.
aa.com
take tock
Airfares fell 5.6% between June and July, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, and is the largest month-to-month drop in fares in nearly 20 years. The fare drop comes as jet fuel prices also plummet.
bls.gov/cpi
30 | ASTAnetwork | fall 2015
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