BY LARISSA RUIZ CAMPO

  Cuba-bound U.S. flights and reservations are reaching historic levels during the holiday season this year, according to several travel agencies.

  ''This month of December has been extraordinary,'' said Armando García, vice president of Marazul Charters. ``The number of reservations is almost double
  those in July and August, when there is also an increase in sales.''

  Not only are there more travelers but they are younger.

  ''When I started my transportation business in 1991, the average age of people traveling to Cuba was 68 to 75 years old,'' said John Cabañas, owner of
  C&T Charters in Miami. ``Now, the average age is 40 and below.''

  The spike in reservations for this month is up an estimated 35 percent to 40 percent compared to December 2000, when Miami experienced bookings not
  seen since 1959, agents said.

  Additionally, the actual number of flights to Cuba also has increased. C&T Charters, for example, has scheduled at least 27 flights to Cuba this month
  compared to its average of 16 monthly flights.

  ''All the flights are full,'' Cabañas said. ``We are at a 93 percent of our capacity for all the month of December in airplanes that have 206 seats.''

  That amounts to about 5,000 travelers in December, up from the average of 3,200 passengers on C&T Charters flights each month.

  ROBUST NUMBERS

  Overall, at least 26,500 passengers were booked on 240 flights out of Miami this month, agents said. At Miami International Airport, a total of 99 flights left
  between Dec. 16 and 24, and an additional 11 are scheduled for Christmas Day, an MIA spokeswoman said. Compare that to a total of 144 flights in the full
  month of November.

  ''In general, there has been an increase from year to year,'' said Zachary Mann, a spokesman for U.S. Customs in Miami. ``As additional airlines have been
  given permission to travel, there are more flights and more travelers.''

  National statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration were not available.

  Analysts attribute the rise to a change in travel policy, as well as to a new breed of younger travelers.

  ''Most of the Cuban-American community that travels to Cuba nowadays is younger than it used to be,'' said Pedro González Munné, director of a
  Miami-based company that promotes travel to Cuba. ``They are people who came to Miami in the past eight or nine years and also the second generations
  born here who are in touch with their families in Cuba.''

  Cabañas also attributed the increase to newer arrivals.

  ''More people are in touch with their families in Cuba and that is something crucial to explain this growth. Family is family and it surpasses any political
  situation,'' he said.

  Mariza Surribas is among the new, younger travelers.

  The 29-year-old from Hialeah left to her native Havana from Miami on Christmas Eve. It was her first trip since she left the island four years ago. Traveling
  with Surribas to Cuba were cherished presents for her mother and grandmother: los nietos.

  ''I'm bringing the grandkids as the Christmas present for them,'' said Surribas, as her 2- and 5-year-old children scurried around the luggage at the check-in
  line. ''I'm very nervous but happy at the same time.'' Surribas' older son, Kevin Velando was only 1 when the family left Cuba. The younger, Kristian
  Velando, was born here.

  GRANDPARENTS' TIME

  ''I'm going to see my abuelitos [grandparents],'' Kristian said, smiling and showing two fingers to indicate his age.

  Junior Mauris also traveled Tuesday to Cuba for the first time since he left 2 ½ years ago.

  ''I'm a little bit nervous for the trip,'' said Mauris, 24, of Hialeah. ``But I think it's worth it because I'm going to see my father and the family I left behind
  when I came to Miami.''

  Surribas and Mauris are among 20,000 Cubans who are granted legal exits from Cuba each year as part of migration accords with the United States.

  Family reunification is not the only reason people travel to Cuba. More native-born Americans also are starting to travel to the island, González Munné said.

  ``People are receiving more information about Cuba, its culture and reality, so they find it interesting and travel to learn more about its art, its music and
  everyday life.''

  An estimated 180,000 Americans visit Cuba each year, and about 30 percent of those are not on the island to visit relatives, Cuban government statistics
  indicate. About 50,000 of the travelers go through third countries, circumventing the U.S. travel ban to Cuba.

  Under current U.S. laws, legal travel to Cuba is restricted to people with relatives there, students, educators and such professionals as journalists, doctors
  and athletes. Cultural exchange programs count.

  Bob Guild, Marazul Charters New York's organizer of trips for professors and students, agrees that this year there is a bigger interest among Americans in
  travel to Cuba. The agency sent 1,300 academic travelers to Cuba this year, compared to 800 last year.

  ''We found out,'' Guild said, ``that Cuba is a particularly intriguing place for people to go compared to other destinations.''