66th Annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade Proudly Marches Down Streets Of Manhattan

"It's beautiful," Rodriguez said of the fact that he can now visit and connect with family in Puerto Rico from an airport so close to home. "I was excited" to learn it was possible, he said.Terry Keyes and his fiance, Mahogany Tyson of Meriden, had a beautiful getaway planned as they were about to board Avelo Airlines' sold-out flight Wednesday morning from Tweed to San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.

Keyes had his heart set on relaxing in the sun and eating some tasty, authentic Puerto Rican food. Tyson had something a little more active on her mind.

"Salsa dancing!" she said as she prepared to board the first-ever nonstop commercial flight beyond the continental United States from Tweed — the start of Avelo's new, twice-weekly service between New Haven and San Juan.

A few feet away, Allen Cordero and his young son, Bryan, who came from Holyoke, Mass., for the flight, sat quietly as they waited to board.Allen Cordero cradled a small daypack alongside him.

Inside was a container with his late brother's ashes, which he was bringing back to Puerto Rico to scatter in Guayama on Puerto Rico’s Caribbean coast, where his late mother was born.The early morning travelers were at the gate as Gov. Ned Lamont, Mayor Justin Elicker, Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Tom Rafter, The New HVN LLC CEO Michael Jones, three leading Puerto Rican state legislators and Joseph Rodriguez, president of Connecticut Puerto Ricans United, among others, joined Avelo Head of Airports Giselle Cortes to commemorate the historic flight.