Aviation History
Cubana de Aviación, founded in 1929, is one of the oldest airlines in the Americas and became Cuba's national carrier after the 1959 revolution, when it was nationalized under the new government. The decades-long US trade embargo, imposed from 1960-62, cut Cubana off from US aircraft, parts and financing, pushing it toward Soviet-bloc aircraft and leaving the airline's fleet chronically constrained — a dynamic that persists in modified form today despite a brief 2016 opening of scheduled US-Cuba air service that was later curtailed. Cuban civil aviation has also been marked by tragedy, including the 1976 bombing of Flight 455 and the 2018 crash of Flight 972, the deadliest in Cuban aviation history.
Founded as Compañía Nacional Cubana de Aviación Curtiss, Cubana became one of the oldest continuously operating airlines in Latin America.
Following the Cuban Revolution, Cubana de Aviación was nationalized and reorganized as the state carrier under the new government.
The US trade embargo, imposed in the early 1960s, blocked Cubana's access to American aircraft and spare parts, forcing a shift to Soviet-bloc aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-62 and Il-18; the embargo's effects on Cuban aviation have persisted, in evolving form, for over sixty years.
A Cubana DC-8 was bombed off the coast of Barbados by anti-Castro militants on October 6, 1976, killing all 73 people aboard, one of the deadliest acts of aviation terrorism in the Western Hemisphere before 2001.
The collapse of the Soviet Union triggered Cuba's 'Special Period,' causing severe fuel and spare-parts shortages that sharply curtailed Cubana's operations through the 1990s.
Under a period of US-Cuba diplomatic normalization, scheduled commercial flights between the two countries resumed for the first time in over 50 years; several US carriers later scaled back or suspended these routes as policy shifted again from 2019 onward.
A leased Boeing 737 operating as Cubana Flight 972 crashed on takeoff from Havana on May 18, 2018, killing 112 of 113 people aboard — the deadliest aviation accident in Cuban history.
Cubana de Aviación · Aerogaviota
Wikipedia, aviation accident investigation reports, historical news archives — note: US-Cuba aviation policy has shifted repeatedly and remains subject to change
Aviation Firsts
Columbia Airport / Camp Columbia (later Ciudad Libertad Airport) — Havana (1919): Opened 1919 per a passing mention in Wikipedia's "History of Cubana de Aviación" article (not a dedicated, independently corroborated source) — Cuba's earliest airlines both flew from here. Renamed Ciudad Libertad, it remained Havana's main airport until 1930; today the site is a school. · Wikipedia ↗
José Martí International Airport — Havana (1930): Opened 24 February 1930 (construction authorized March 1929), replacing Columbia/Ciudad Libertad as Havana's main airport. Named as Cuba's earliest airport in the Latin American Civil Aviation Commission's (CLAC/LACAC) official historical summary for Cuba, which names no earlier airport. Cuba's principal international gateway today. · Wikipedia ↗
Columbia/Ciudad Libertad (1919) is documented as a functioning airfield earlier than José Martí (1930) and was the base for Cuba's earliest airlines, but the 1919 date is single-sourced to a passing mention; the official CLAC-LACAC regulatory history names only José Martí, which is also the only one of the two still operating.
Compañía Aérea de Cuba / Compañía Aérea Cubana (1919): Sources disagree on exact name and year: Wikipedia's "History of Cubana de Aviación" names "Compañía Aérea de Cuba (founded 1919)" and "Compañía Aérea Cubana (founded 1920)" as two separate, short-lived predecessor companies both flying from Columbia Airport; the official CLAC-LACAC Cuba history instead names "Compañía Aérea Cubana" founded October 1919, calling it "the first Cuban commercial airline." Both dissolved quickly due to post-WWI economic conditions. · Wikipedia ↗
Cubana de Aviación (1929): Founded 8 October 1929 as Compañía Nacional Cubana de Aviación Curtiss, initially a flying school/charter operator; scheduled service began 1930. Pan American acquired it in 1932 (dropping "Curtiss" from the name); nationalized in 1959 and merged with Aerovías Q, Cuba Aeropostal and Expreso Aéreo Interamericano, re-emerging as "Empresa Consolidada Cubana de Aviación" from June 1961. Still Cuba's flag carrier today, headquartered at José Martí Airport. · CU ↗ · Wikipedia ↗
Compañía Aérea de Cuba/Cubana (1919/1920) is the earliest airline ever founded in Cuba but did not survive the post-WWI period; Cubana de Aviación (1929) is the oldest airline whose name and lineage persist to today, through multiple mergers and full nationalization.
No documented foreign entrant found. As expected for a sanctioned/isolated market, Cuba's ground handling appears entirely state-run via ECASA (Empresa Cubana de Aeropuertos y Servicios Aeronáuticos) at José Martí International Airport. No foreign ground handling company entrant could be found or is plausible given the US embargo and Cuba's state-controlled aviation sector.