Cuba is 90-miles off the coast of Florida. It’s a nation that is now served by most U.S. airlines. But aviation in Cuba is enshrouded in mystery. We literally have no idea what is going on.
Numerous reports indicate that all domestic flights have been suspended indefinitely. Others suggest otherwise.
There are Trip Advisor forums filled with contractdictory information. There are unsourced news stories from blogs like mine. Some say all domestic flights in Cuba are cancelled until September. Others say the suspension has been lifted. I wasted an hour googling for new sources, failing to find any reliable sources (in English or Spanish, not even on Granma).
Not that the Cubana website is anything to lean upon, but it now lists only two destinations:
Yet, search for Cuban domestic flights and you will find them. For example, I found space from Holguin to Havana on June 17th:
Longhaul flights are also operating. For example, you can buy tickets from Buenos Aires to Havana online. That flight is operated by an IL-96, a rarely seen four-engine Russian wide body. But there is discussion in various forums as to whether the flight is actually operating…
We know that Blue Panorama ended its lease with Cubana after the crash of Flight 972 last month that killed 112 (Cubana wasn’t paying its bills). We’ve also heard rumors that Cubana has suspended its fleet of five Antonov AN-158 aircraft due to safety concerns. That does not leave any aircraft for domestic routes. Or maybe it does, because Cubana has not published its fleet anywhere.
So the bottom line is this: we have no idea if/when/how Cubana flights are operating. Isn’t that odd?
And that sort of mirrors my experience. When I visited in Cuba in 2012, I made it point to fly domestically…that was a primary purpose of the trip.
You can read about my domestic Cubana experience here.
In short, I wasted $400 bucks flying an ATR-72 when I thought I would be flying an ancient Russian AN-24. The AN-24 was broken. Then I was accused of being an American spy and had to barter my way back to Havana with a mix of Euros and Dollars…
What a great day…
> Read More – Day Two in Cuba: Accused of Being An American Spy!
CONCLUSION
I’m fascinated by Cuban aviation and the mystery surrounding Cubana. At this point, we have no idea what is really operating or how often. That’s not how a country rebuilds its economy. And that is certainly not how to run an airline.
If you still wish to fly 40+ years old An-24, try Ukrainian airline called Motor Sich (airline belongs to aircraft manufacturer). You can fly several domestic routes in Ukraine starting from 40 USD one-way as well as Zaporozhizya (their hub) to Minsk, Belarus.
They also have other unusual Antonovs in fleet (An-72, An-144) operating these routes.
They don’t even have the info right. That website picture is listing it as an A319.
Looks like Madrid-Havana ran on 04 Jun
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/cu470
Over the last weeks Avion Express ended also its lease . They leased over the last years up to four a32o/321 aircrafts to cubana. When you are searching for the planespotters fleet on flighradar24, only two il-96 seem to be operating (CU-T1250, CU-T1251).
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-aviation/cuban-flagship-airlines-woes-deepen-after-crash-idUSKBN1JT2O0
I can confirm internal flights are operating as of October 2018. I’ve just been on several! All operated by ATR-72. I did not see any other aircraft type operating internally for Cubana. Aerogaviota (the military airline) are also operating but sporadically.
Cubana are also still operating international flights on the Ilyushians.
It was clear that not even Cubans really know what’s happening with the flights. We didn’t get confirmation about our flights until the day before because our agent said the airline only decide the day before whether the flight will be operating or not. Having said that, all flights left on time or early and were incredibly efficient to the point of raising some eyebrows (starting taxi eith rear door still open, anyone?).
Best advice is to go expecting last minute changes and always have a back up plan.
Thanks for this update!
I had a ticket for Cubana’s flight to Madrid for 24th Sep 2018 with Il-96 and it was cancelled on the day of flight. I have tracked the aircraft and it turned out that Cuba’s president took it to go to the UN summit! Cubana has been flying to Madrid with Il-96 for couple of months this year, sometimes cancelling some flights. Now they are using 767 on this route too and Il-96 is reportedly used on the route to San Salvador.
Matthew,I would be more than happy to tell you more about Cubana.
I happen to deal with the airline.
No guessing, solid info from the source.