The company will offer six weekly flights between Bogotá and Havana and 2,100 weekly tickets
14ymedio, Havana, 3 May 2024 — The Colombian airline Avianca, whose aircraft had not flown to Cuba for four years, announced that beginning July 2, it will operate six direct weekly flights on Airbus A320 aircraft with capacity for 180 passengers, between El Dorado International Airport, in Bogotá, and José Martí, in Havana. According to a statement, it will sell 2,100 tickets a week. “We are happy to return to Cuba to provide our customers with an additional destination in the Caribbean and also to connect Cubans with 25 countries and 75 destinations that are part of our network,” said David Alemán, Avianca’s Sales Director for Colombia and Latin America.
Alemán highlighted that the airline has more than 70 flights and 10 routes that connect a network of destinations that include Aruba, Curaçao, Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, San Juan and now Havana. In addition, he specified that flights to the Island will be made on Tuesdays and Sundays.
With the increase in Avianca’s connections, another escape door is opened for Cubans who want to reach Managua to make the crossing to the United States
With the increase in Avianca connections, another escape door is opened for Cubans who want to reach Managua with the aim of making the crossing to the United States. The airline was widely used when there were fewer flights to Nicaragua during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nationals of the Island would leave for Bogotá on a flight from Wingo, where they made a connection with Avianca to El Salvador with a final destination in Managua. The route, however, was impractical, since Colombia requires a transit visa for Cubans, and the procedure at that country’s consulate in Havana is slow.
The Colombian airline suspended its flights to Cuba on January 15, 2020. Avianca Holdings made the determination after, in October of the previous year, it had established a limited liability company in the United States to obtain a credit, making it subject to the regulations of that country.
The company suspended the sale of tickets to Cuba after the United States Government warned that it could sanction the airline for its operations on the Island, since initially the company did not request the corresponding permits.
The company suspended the sale of tickets to Cuba in 2020 after the U.S. Government warned that it could sanction the airline for its operations on the Island
Avianca admitted that its flights to and from Cuban territory could have “involuntarily” violated the regulations of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department.
The return of Avianca comes a few days after the Venezuelan airline Conviasa announced the increase in flights, from May 5, with departures from Caracas (Venezuela) to Managua (Nicaragua), with a stopover in Havana. The transfers will take place on Tuesday and Sunday, and “the checked baggage allowance is 23 kilos [51 pounds].”
The connections, whose costs were not disclosed, are in addition to those that the Venezuelan airline already had marked on its calendar. There were transfers from Havana to Managua on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The Avianca and Conviasa flights take place at a time when the state airline Cubana de Aviación confirmed the suspension of its regular flights to Argentina under the argument of the “refusal” of the oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF) to supply fuel to its aircraft because of the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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