Tampa Offers Marketing Potentials for U.S. Airlines

A woman born in Cuba wept tears of joy after the announcement on December 12th that Southwest Airlines will do daily service flights from Tampa International Airport to Havana, Cuba.

This will mark the first commercial flight in nearly half a century between Florida and Cuba, where relations are continuing to improve. Yet it is also a sad occasion for many Cubans who have done commercial flights themselves after receiving permission to do so from the government and air officials. Aral's ABC charters and Xael Travel will no longer see business like they used to.

Local charters who have permission to do their chartered flights to the island nation of Cuba are now overjoyed and saddened by the increase in commercial interest in flights to Cuba. Charters such as ABC Charters who leased their planes from American Airlines and Jet Blue closed their doors on November 29.

Now, Jet Blue and American Airlines are providing their service from their companies and continuing the flights to Cuba at their own price. So far Havana Air is still successful in Tampa for chartering flights to Cuba on Wednesday and Saturday. Other local charters such as Xael Travel left Tampa and continue their local flights out of Miami to Cuba.

So far flights to Cuba for tourism are still prohibited. People who want to go to Cuba must say they are there for studying the Cuban culture, history, or for medical purposes, which is most often checked.

However, there are ten other categories people can check. But because there are no agreements between Cuba and Florida about flying to the nation, Cuba could charge more than the international $400 fight rate for airlines. Southwest Airlines offers $205 for a round trip to Cuba rather than its local counterpart Havana Air which is hoping to drop its price to $256 for a round trip.

Havana Air will remain in Tampa to provide tickets and booked tours within their upcoming package. Commercial airlines such as Southwest and American Airlines do not cover those options and have yet to know when tourism will be allowed to commence in Cuba following the normalizing of relations since 2014 when Obama visited.

Once a signed agreement for commercial flights to Cuba is completed, fees for airlines between the United States and Cuba must be in line with the international flight rate throughout the rest of the world.

When that happens, commercial airlines may increase their prices, Havana Air will keep its price and tourism bookings as an all included fee for flights and travel plans within the Cuban island. It seems a better alternative than having to book separate items all in one week.

Source: Blasting News