KEY WEST, Fla. – Key West again has scheduled international flights, a first since souring U.S. relations with Cuba halted regular air service with Havana in 1961.
A 19-seat Discover Air jet carrying four passengers inaugurated the route from Key West International Airport bound for Nassau, the Bahamas.
The flight Thursday was the first scheduled international service from the airport of this southernmost city in the continental United States since the Cuban routes were dropped the year before the Cuban missile crisis.
Discover is offering round-trip flights between Key West and Nassau three times a week. The trip takes one hour and eight minutes.
The airline also flies between Key West and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and service to Orlando is expected within a month.
"I hope this is successful," said airport manager Peter Horton.
He said he would like other airlines to schedule international flights from Key West.
For the past four decades, residents of the Keys heading abroad had to fly or drive to mainland airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach.
AP
