Long Beach-based company Cuba Travel Services Inc. kicked off nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Havana on June 30.
The five-hour flight takes off from the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at 11 a.m. local time, and is the only Cuban flight for Cuba Travel since July 2004, when the Bush administration tightened rules governing travel to Cuba, according to the company.
U.S. President Barack Obama repealed the 2004 travel restrictions in April. A bill pending in Congress would end the travel ban for all Americans.
The flight runs every Tuesday and can accommodate 150 people, said the company.
Since 1962, travel from the United States to Cuba has been banned, but Cuban Americans have been allowed to visit family under various policies.
According to Cuba Travel, 1.5 million Cubans live in the United States, and about 55,000 of them reside in the Los Angeles area.
"It's been really, really busy," Michael Zuccato, general manager of Cuba Travel Services Inc., said of ticket sales.
The company began offering Los Angeles-Havana flights in 2000 but suspended them in 2004 after the Bush administration tightened restrictions on travel to Cuba, which "had a big impact on our business," Zuccato said.
An unknown number of Americans illegally visit Cuba every year by traveling through a third country such as Mexico or Canada.
Source:Xinhua
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