United flight diverts to Cuba

United Airlines flight travelling between Washington's Dulles International Airport and Cancun, Mexico was diverted to Havana, Cuba after a strange odor was detected on board.

The Airbus 320, carrying 135 passengers and five crew members, landed in Havana Sunday after the crew noticed a burning smell in the cockpit.

A United Airlines spokesman said that in order to be safe the pilots decided to land the aircraft at the nearest available airport”.

Gloria Berbena,a spokeswoman for the U.S. Interests section in Cuba, said a second plane arrived from the United States later Sunday and flew the passengers out.

U.S. law restricts the travel of American citizens to Cuba, although there are frequent charter flights between the two countries.

United Flight 831 was bound for the Mexican beach resort of Cancun, but diverted to the Cuban capital after the flight crew detected "a strange odor" in the cockpit, The Associated Press reports.

"In an abundance of caution, the pilots decided to land the aircraft at the nearest available airport," United spokesman Charles Hobart says in a statement to AP.

United adds to The Washington Post that the Airbus A320 "landed routinely and safely in Havana and we have reaccommodated our customers on a different flight."

CNN reports United had to bring in another plane to accommodate the passengers from the diverted flight. The Post says the A320 operating Flight 831 landed in Havana just after noon local time and was on the ground at least through 5 p.m.

Regularly scheduled commercial airline flights are not permitted to fly between the U.S. and Cuba, per the U.S. trade embargo on the island nation. Certain charter flights are permitted to fly between the nations, though there are restrictions on who can purchase travel on those flights.

AP adds "although the United States and Cuba are bitter Cold War foes, Cuba has a tradition of hospitality and is a signatory to international aviation accords. On the day of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, Havana offered to let the United States use its landing fields because U.S. airports were in a state of chaos. Washington did not take Cuba up on the offer.