Flying to Havana

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Scott@KTYR

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Scott@KTYR
I just heard that a few small commercial flights have been approved from Key West to Havana Cuba.

How long do you think before they will allow private planes to fly there?
 
Define "They." US Registered GA planes do fly to Cuba, but typically from destinations other than the US. They have to secure landing permission before hand by Cuban officials but it can be done.

The bigger deal is the eventual return to the US, if you're a US citizen and you happened to have made a documented trip to Cuba, as there is an embargo on the spending of American currency there by US citizens.

I'm not aware of any clean, direct way to fly GA to a Cuban destination from the US but I know of at least one handler service that will "accompany" GA flights to Cuba under a license similar to that which is now available to commercial carriers.
 
I did not know that.

The article on the commercial flights did not go into detail how this was accomplished. I used "They" to refer to an agreement between the US and Cuba to allow commercial flights and possible GA travel.

Sac Arrow said:
Define "They." US Registered GA planes do fly to Cuba, but typically from destinations other than the US. They have to secure landing permission before hand by Cuban officials but it can be done.

The bigger deal is the eventual return to the US, if you're a US citizen and you happened to have made a documented trip to Cuba, as there is an embargo on the spending of American currency there by US citizens.

I'm not aware of any clean, direct way to fly GA to a Cuban destination from the US but I know of at least one handler service that will "accompany" GA flights to Cuba under a license similar to that which is now available to commercial carriers.
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Scott@KTYR said:
I did not know that.

The article on the commercial flights did not go into detail how this was accomplished. I used "They" to refer to an agreement between the US and Cuba to allow commercial flights and possible GA travel.
Click to expand...

The agreement to which you refer isn't exactly an "agreement" between the US and Cuba, it's more of a joint licensing arrangement that allows for a process for returning US citizens to clear customs, treasury and state department issues.

You can overfly Cuban airspace as a GA pilot, but you have to secure permission first and I think there is a fee involved. GA and light charter planes have flown to Guantanamo Bay from Florida for years.
 
We have gone to war with countries and made up, but are still ****ed off at Cuba. China is a communist country yet we embrace them as brothers and trading partners. It makes no sense. Fidel is no longer in power. I want a Cuban cigar!!! :mad:


:lol:
 
Geico266 said:
We have gone to war with countries and made up, but are still ****ed off at Cuba. China is a communist country yet we embrace them as brothers and trading partners. It makes no sense. Fidel is no longer in power. I want a Cuban cigar!!! :mad:


:lol:
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I don't get it either. Fidel or no Fidel, we have had no issue with Cuba since the breakup of the Soviet Union. I think that's going to change rapidly though.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I don't get it either. Fidel or no Fidel, we have had no issue with Cuba since the breakup of the Soviet Union. I think that's going to change rapidly though.
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You think the Soviets are going to get the band back together???
 
You can't even phone Cuba from a US landline. Which is bizarre and, frankly, un-American.
 
You want a Cuban cigar? Try here:

www.puroexpress.com

if your shipment gets seized - they just send another one - and they never get seized. . . . its pretty open trade. Just need to use AMEX or Visa - Mastercard knuckled under to the 'man.'
 
Cuban cigars are overrated. They have ruined the soil there because they aren't managing the tobacco crop properly, so the quality isn't as what it used to be.
 
JB1842 said:
Cuban cigars are overrated. They have ruined the soil there because they aren't managing the tobacco crop properly, so the quality isn't as what it used to be.
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I agree 100% - the higher end Arturo Fuente and the Connecticut wrapper Avo's are much better than most Cubans these days. I bought a box of varnish Partagas 8-9-8 and every other cigar either does not draw properly or tunnels or has some burn problem - yet the non-Cubas I buy always seem to be ok - so its not me.

That said - the Cohiba Siglo V and VI are really nice usually, and the behike 54/56 usually smoke great, but they cost more than God of Fire or similar high end cigars from the DR and Honduras / Nicaragua. . .
 
JB1842 said:
Cuban cigars are overrated. They have ruined the soil there because they aren't managing the tobacco crop properly, so the quality isn't as what it used to be.
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Very true. Also, many don't realize that when Castro came to power alot of the big families fled and reestablished their brands in other countries like the DR. Quality and variety is much better these days outside of Cuba, and I say that as a mariner who has been able to buy and smoke many Cubans in the last 20 years.
 
You can call Cuba, no problem. You can even sell communications equipment to Cuba. The embargo isn't true, blanketing, or all encompassing, it's a partial sanction. There are a few categories of items that you can export to Cuba without a problem. There are even more items you can export as long as you get a license in advance, but the largest quantity of things do remain under the sanction. Who is going to buy them, however, is a different story.

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba.pdf

http://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/policy-guidance/country-guidance/sanctioned-destinations/cuba

Defining "communist" has become difficult. China has a communist party in effect, and they still have some central planning going on. But it's not the old Soviet style of planned economy that we tend to think of under communism. Their economy is really mixed. There remains some socialist and central economical planning, but there is also widespread private ownership and private enterprise. As far as business, state ownership really exists in only a few sectors, the majority of them are state-free and privatized.

The Soviet Union (well really only Russia, now) has no chance of re-grouping. Russia is working as hard as it can to keep together it's dream of a customs and economical union together with some of the countries of the former Soviet Union, but that is falling apart quickly. The Baltic's are all now in the EU, and there is no looking back. Moldova has a breakaway region that wants to side with Russia and it's historical soviet references, but that region is smaller than Delaware, and is not recognized by the UN as an independent country. Moldova itself has received millions in US and EU funding for economic development. Everyone has seen the Ukraine fighting recently, as it battles with itself over going to the EU or siding with Russia and attempting to oust the current (sometimes) pro-Russia President (if only they'd pay their gas bill). Belarus is a policed state, ran by Lukashenko, the last communist dictator in Europe, and he's going to come to an end very soon. Seriously? European policed state in 2014? Just wait until they get Facebook on their mobile phones. So what's left? Russia and the 'Stans? Economically depressed remnants of a union that ended over 20 years ago? Regroup? Fat chance.
 
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