US direct commercial flights to Santiago de Cuba start

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 4 (acn) Flight 098 of the US airline Silver Airways landed on November 3 in Santiago de Cuba with 34 people onboard to open this eastern Cuba city to direct commercial flights from the United States.

The aircraft, a small SAD 340-B, was received by the traditional water baptism. It is the first of the daily one hour-fifty five minutes flights from Fort Lauderdale to Santiago de Cuba.
Silver Airways representative in Cuba, Jorge Vargas, told the press that his airline is the only American airline with flights to Santa Clara, Holguin, Camaguey and Cienfuegos airports, and that they will also open routes to Cayo Coco, Varadero and Manzanillo city.
Vargas said they could increase the amount of daily flights to Santiago up to five, but the limitations set but the US blockade of Cuba prevents them from doing it, though they are satisfied with the possibility to expand Silver Airways operations through the region.