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Cuba-bound flight diverts to BWI after report of smoke

A Vision Airlines charter flight bound for Cuba from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport was temporarily diverted to BWI Sunday after reports of the smell of smoke in the cabin.

The plane, a Boeing 767, "landed safely about 5:20 p.m.," said Jonathan Dean, a spokesman for Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. A mechanic checked out the plane, and cleared it to proceed, he said. It departed about 8:40 p.m.

Vision Airlines spokesman Bryan Glazer said in a statement that there were 154 passengers on board flight RBY-6401, which left New York at 4 p.m.

The flight was scheduled to land at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, Cuba, shortly after 10 p.m., according to an Internet flight tracker.

Vision, founded in 1994 and based in Atlanta, is one of eight charter companies licensed to fly from the U.S. to Havana, Cuba.

The airline made headlines in July for its involvement in the so-called "spy swap" in Vienna, Austria, where 10 convicted spies living in the U.S. and working for Russia were exchanged for four prisoners alleged to be Western spies. Vision reportedly transported the Russian spies on behalf of the United States.

tricia.bishop@baltsun.com

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