The last suspect in a 1968 hijacking of a Pan American airliner to Cuba was sentenced to 15 years in prison today after apologising in a US court for his "desperate actions."

Luis Armando Pena-Soltren (69) a US citizen, turned himself in to authorities in October 2009 after spending more than four decades in Cuba as a fugitive.

"This is the story of a man who 42 years ago made a terrible mistake," his lawyer James Neuman told the Manhattan federal court.

Pena-Soltren's motive, he said, was to see his sick father in Cuba, which has been under a US embargo since just after the 1959 revolution on the Caribbean island.

Pena-Soltren admitted to the hijacking last March, pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit air piracy, interference with a flight crew and kidnapping.

None of the 83 passengers and crew was harmed.

Pena-Soltren's two cohorts were tried years ago and then released after serving their prison sentences.

"I want to apologise to all those people who felt threatened during my desperate actions," he told the court.

On November 11th, 1968, the three men boarded Pan Am flight 281 to Puerto Rico from New York, US prosecutors said.

About 90 minutes into the journey, Pena-Soltren held a knife to a flight attendant's throat and a gun to her back. He marched her to the cockpit, where the men ordered the pilots to change course.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, dozens of planes were hijacked from the United States to Cuba as Cold War tensions with the island's leader Fidel Castro intensified.

Some people hijacked the planes to make political statements, while others sought asylum in Cuba or ransom payments from the US government.

Reuters