Iconic for having a large fleet of Soviet-era aircraft, the Cubana de Aviacion is one of the oldest airlines still in operation (93 years old), with one of the most peculiar histories involving a turnaround in the direction of its istration.
Founded on October 8, 1929 by American businessman Clement Melville Keys, Cubana focused its first operations on mail transport. Its first operations featured western Curtiss Robin aircraft and the Lockheed Model 10.
Keys founded several companies and aircraft manufacturers, notably TWA and Curtiss-Wright, becoming an arm of Curtiss focused on flight schools, including charter flights. Interestingly, due to its strategic importance for cargo transport in North America, Cubana was acquired by the giant Pan Am in 1932.
With its limited service for the transport of letters, Cubana gradually began to offer regular enger service from 1940 onwards, as the availability of its fleet increased with the legendary Douglas DC-3, many from the Second World War.
In 1945, Cubana then had its first regular enger route opened between Havana and Miami, as well as New York, in the United States, while the company used the Douglas DC-4 for longer routes, in particular, to Europe, by connecting the Caribbean island with Madrid, Rome, including also the Chilean capital Santiago.
Thanks to Pan Am's management, Cubana consolidated itself to the point of becoming one of the main operators offering flights within the Caribbean and part of North America, a success that made the company have part of the investments coming from Cuban businessmen, leaving Pan Am with a stake in the company of around 40%.
After the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War, with a clientele made up of big businessmen and rich people in Cuba, the company's direction changed drastically, mainly after the diplomatic break with the United States and the island's rapprochement with Cuba. Soviet Union, mainly during the 1950s.
New philosophy, another reality for Cubana
Operating a wide variety of aircraft, during the 1940s and 1950s, Cubana had a fleet composed mostly of Douglas DC-3s and Lockheed Constellations, a composition that was drastically modified after government changes in Cuba, starting to count in the following years with the Soviet Antonov An-24 and the Ilyushin Il-18.
Due to the Cuban Revolution led by Ernesto Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, Cubana was soon nationalized by the communist dictatorship, nationalizing other airlines and making Cubana the country's flagship, a situation that is reflected to the present day.
The turbulent political situation brought about by the civil war, caused the Cubana to lose not only part of its fleet to hijackers ed by the CIA, but also during the bombings that Havana suffered in the battle of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, in early 1961.
The company also lost important routes, including flights to the United States, more specifically to Miami, as a result of the closure of United States airspace to all Cuban airlines.
Faced with the sanctions imposed by the United States, and the approximation of Cuban leaders with the Soviet Union, the Cubana fleet that was previously composed exclusively of western aircraft, the airline began to resort to the Soviets in the renewal of aircraft.
From a major operator of western aircraft, Cubana became the most Soviet in the Americas, starting to operate the Yakolev Yak-42, Tupolev Tu-204, Antonov An-148/An-158, including the Ilyushin Il-96, an aircraft that marked Presence in some Brazilian capitals between 2013 and 2017, when the iconic quad jet started to bring health professionals from Cuba to the Mais Médicos program.
Even after the demise of the Soviet Union, Cuba still maintained its close ties with the Russian government, which was instrumental in acquiring Russian and Ukrainian aircraft.
A major operator of jets leased from other companies
Due to the unfavorable financial situation in the 1990s, as well as restrictions on the purchase of Western aircraft by US embargoes, Cubana began to lease aircraft from other airlines, as a way to maintain its operations.
The airline now has long-range aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-62 and two DC-10s from the French company AOM, which was even involved in an accident in Guatemala on flight 1216, when it left the runway at La Aurora International Airport. on December 21, 1999. The accident resulted in the death of eight engers and eight crew, as well as two people on the ground.
Faced with the new reality, Cubana even had western jets, including the Airbus A320 from TACA, including other aircraft from European and American companies, however, these planes rarely operated under the company's colors.
With a varied fleet, Cubana found it difficult to maintain its operations with these aircraft, since, most of the time, some aircraft were old and had replacement parts, especially for Russian and Ukrainian aircraft. This situation resulted in many planes being unable to be used for months and even years due to lack of maintenance, including cannibalizing aircraft to keep part of the fleet flying.
In the early 2000s, aiming to rely less on leased aircraft, Cubana began investing in aircraft exclusively from the Ilyushin and Antonov, with the arrival of the Il-96, Tu-204, including the rare Antonov An-158.
Facts about Cuban
Currently, the Cuban company is the only one that operates the Ilyushin Il-96 outside Russia, being the only one flying with the IL-96, since the Russian Government alone operates this type of aircraft. In addition, some units of this model came from Aeroflot.
On the Ukrainian side, the Cuban began to operate the Antonov An-158, a jet aircraft aimed at regional operations, however, the fleet was paralyzed after a serious accident involving this model, which had several technical problems. As the world fleet was grounded, Cubana has since not returned to operate this jet.
With a strong presence on regional routes outside Cuba, Cubana operates seasonal and charter flights to Paraguay, Argentina and Spain.
Embraer has already been present at Cubana, the company even operated a BEM-110 "Bandeirante", however, on November 28, 2020, Cubana's only Brazilian aircraft had its landing gear collapsed and never flew again . This plane, manufactured in 1976, has already flown by Rio Sul and Total Linhas Aéreas in the 90s, according to a record on the Planelogger website.
With a cargo division, Cubana had two Tupolev Tu-204 units exclusively for cargo operations, however, these units are deactivated due to lack of maintenance.
Recently, Cubana sent two units of the ATR model to Brasilia to perform heavy maintenance, which shows that the company never reached its full potential, mainly to keep its aircraft in operational condition.
Finally, Cubana is one of the founding of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an organization that emerged in 1945 during a conference in Havana, showing the importance of aviation in Cuba at the time.
Due to the lack of information, it is not possible to know precisely how many aircraft are operating in Cubana. According to information from the Planespotters website, Cubana currently has 1 Ilyushin Il-96, two ATR 72 500/600 and a Tupolev Tu-204.
