Havana & Santiago: Linked by Airlift for 84 Years

Different national and international aircraft land and take off every day at Santiago de Cuba’s Antonio Maceo International Airport, but there is a special route: the Havana-Santiago roundtrip flight. Each October marks a new anniversary of the airlift between both cities.

Click on Santiago de Cuba: A City of 500 Years

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the three-engine Ford took off and inaugurated the Havana-Santiago national route, with stops in Santa Clara, Moron and Camagüey. It took place in October 30, 1930.

Nowadays, such airplanes as the AN-158, which takes the two daily flights, make up the Cuban fleet to provide the service on the popular Havana-Santiago-Havana route. We now have only memories of the IL-14, the AN-made planes with its previous versions 24 and 26, YAK-40 and the plane both the land staff and crew revered the most: YAK 42. We also recall the 72-seried ATR for Aerogaviota and Aerocaribbean.

All these airplanes have flown over the plains of Havana and the central region of the island, to the easternmost mountains.

Traveling from and to the capital is very common in the life of most of Cubans, but in terms of the people from Santiago and Havana it takes a special connotation as Santiago de Cuba is the second most important city in the country. The matter ranges from families based in both cities to entrepreneurial relations between ministries and their Santiago branches.

84 years have passed from the pioneer flight of the small three-engine Ford back in 1930 to the daily night flight of the AN-158, and there are permanent landings and take offs between two cities that are linked by more than just a plane.