Company With Presence In Region Offers Private Flights To Cuba

By David Madden

NEW YORK, NY (CBS) -- A New York based firm is offering private charter flights to Cuba, and the move could mean more business for a troubled local airport.

The New Castle County Airport in Delaware has had difficulty for years keeping commercial carriers, but charters are another matter. JFI Jets houses two of its planes there, and they'll be used as part of the new service.

"A scheduled airline says 'Here's when the flight is going. Sign up for a ticket if you want,'" Company President David Rimmer tells KYW Newsradio. "For us, passengers come to us saying 'Here's where we want to leave from and when we want to go' and we make the rest happen."

Part of that involves routing the run through one of a dozen approved gateway airports, like Baltimore-Washington or JFK. And your trip must still be for business or family reasons.

"It's a market that's been for the most part closed for over 50 years, so there's a lot of curiosity," Rimmer said. "The key change is going to happen when tourism travel is permitted and I think then the flood gates are going to open up."

Tourism is still banned under the continuing US trade embargo against Cuba.

Rimmer says JFI made its first flight to Havana last month out of New York.