China welcomed Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel y Bermúdez, the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and Cuban President, for a state visit from November 24th to 26th. Before arriving in Beijing, the Cuban President had made official visits to Algeria, Russia, and Turkey.
It is interesting to note that official images from Cuban television showed that, for these international transfers, Díaz-Canel and his team flew on an Airbus A340-600 (registration: YV3535) from Conviasa, a US-sanctioned Venezuelan state airline.
Where is Cuba’s own Ilyushin IL-96?
Cuba’s national flag carrier, Cubana, once owned two Ilyushin Il-96-300s, a Russian-made four-engine widebody with a range of 10,000 km (5,400 NM). In 2019, one of the Il-96 (CU-T1250) carried Díaz-Canel to Dublin Airport (DUB) for his state visit to Ireland.
However, due to the sanctions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it’s reported that the Cubana’s Il-96s have been grounded due to lack of service support. Interestingly, Venezuelan President Chávez and Maduro traveled on Cubana’s presidential plane more than once. Now it’s time for the comrades to pay the favor back.
It’s not the first time a communist party leader has wet leased an aircraft from another friendly country. North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, flew on Air China‘s Boeing 747 to Singapore for his historic summit with US President Donald Trump in 2018.
Conviasa’s A340 fleet and its connectivity
Conviasa, created in 2004, has been sanctioned since 2020 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury, which means its aircraft can not fly over US territories.
Conviasa mainly uses the Airbus A340s on its international routes. It received an A340-300 from Venezuelan private airline Avior in 2021. However, Conviasa appears to have scrapped its sole Airbus A340-200 earlier this year. Before the airline sent it to Iran for dismantling, it was the last aircraft of its type worldwide still involved in passenger operations.
Photo: Getty Images
Conviasa now has three Airbus A340s, including one Airbus A340-300 and two Airbus A340-600s. The average age of the fleet is over 20 years. The Airbus A340-600 (YV3535) that was wet-leased to Cuba this time was purchased from the Iranian airline Mahan Air, also sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Conviasa’s operations
Conviasa launched a route between Caracas and Moscow‘s Vnukovo International Airport in May 2021. The service started off flying once every two weeks, and was increased to a weekly basis in November 2021. But now it has returned to the schedule of one flight every 15 days.
Conviasa also resumed its bi-weekly Tehran service on June 19th, 2022, after months of disruption, making Caracas now the only city on the American continent which has a non-stop flight to Tehran. The airline also confirmed in June that it would launch scheduled passenger flights to Algiers, Algeria (ALG), another Venezuelan allied country, making Algiers its first destination in Africa. The flights started on July 27th, with operations also carried out by its Airbus A340-600.
Photo: Instituto Nacional de Aeronáutica Civil.
Conviasa announced on July 2nd that it would launch a new international route to China‘s southern metropolitan city, Guangzhou, from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. The flights will be operated by its Airbus A340-600 and could be seen as the extension of the Tehran route. However, tickets for the Caracas – Guangzhou route are not on sale yet.
What do you make of the Venezuelan airline flying Cuba’s leader on his world tour?