Britain's Virgin Atlantic inaugurates flights to Cuba

Virgin Atlantic chairman Richard Branson (C) poses for
the press flanked by two stewardesses (L and R)
holding a Cuban flag and a Union Jack and by two
Cuban girls dressed as 'rumba' dancers 27 June, 2005
at Jose Marti international airport in Havana.
 AFP PHOTO/Luis ACOSTA 

Virgin Atlantic British airline chairman Richard Branson
(C) holds in arms a Cuban woman dressed as
'rumbera' 27 June, 2005 at Jose Marti international
airport in Havana. AFP PHOTO/Luis ACOSTA 

Cuba's Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz (R)
shows a scale model of a Boeing 747 airliner he
received from Virgin Atlantic British airline chairman
Richard Branson (L) 27 June, 2005 at Jose Marti
International airport in Havana.
AFP PHOTO/Luis ACOSTA 

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Britain's Virgin Atlantic Airways inaugurated direct flights to Cuba on Monday with a Boeing 747 carrying the airline's gregarious owner Richard Branson.

The airline tycoon posed on the jet's wing with two Cuban dancers after the plane touched down at Havana's Jose Marti airport, as flight attendants hoisted the Cuban and British flags.

The British jumbo jet was met by an official welcome committee including Cuba's minister of tourism Manuel Marrero and the president of the Institute of Civil Aviation Rogelio Acevedo.

Branson hopes to tap into rising British tourism to this communist-ruled Caribbean island.

The number of British tourists visiting Cuba passed 46,000 in 1997, and 161,200 Britons visited Cuba last year, according to Cuban figures.

Tourism is vital to Cuba's economy, generating some 40 percent of its foreign currency earnings.

Last year, a record two million tourists visited Cuba, according to Marrero.

Virgin will operate two flights a week to Havana from London's Gatwick airport.

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