The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency reported that the Russian and Venezuelan aviation authorities agreed that their airlines can carry out flights with a stopover in Cuba. The establishment of this connection coincides with the drop in almost half of the flow of tourists from the Eurasian nation, which ceased to be the main issuer of visitors to the Island, according to the latest figures published for the first month of 2023.
In a note, the agency noted that regulators agreed to grant airlines “the right to fly” from the fifth “free of air,” an aeronautical standard that allows passengers or cargo from a third country to board.
The agreement will be in force until the end of the 2024 summer season and, for now, the routes are operated exclusively by the Venezuelan airline Conviasa and the Russian Nordwind.
In this way, the Russian airlines that connect Moscow with Porlamar, on the Venezuelan island of Margarita, will be able to make a stopover at the Cuban airport of Varadero. The Venezuelan companies will fly from Caracas to Havana, and then continue their route to the Russian capital.
The official press recalled that in 2022 The Venezuelan Minister of Tourism, Alí Padrón, assured that his country was prepared to receive tourists in charter operations as part of an agreement between the two countries to increase air connectivity.
The connection between Varadero and the island of Margarita, in the southeast of the Caribbean Sea, is a new opportunity for Cubans who travel to this destination to buy products that are scarce on the island
The connection between Varadero and the island of Margarita, in the southeast of the Caribbean Sea, is a new opportunity for Cubans who travel to this destination to buy products that are scarce on the island. Since a charter route between Cuba and Venezuela began operations, in March 2022 and with a stopover in the city of Porlamar, some 4,834 Cuban tourists have arrived at the tourist pole.
Padrón detailed last January that “small businessmen” who spend an average of 5,000 dollars per person on the purchase of food, basic necessities and other tax-free objects arrive mainly.
The new operations are also a window to recover the battered Russian tourism data on the island. The National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) confirmed that the arrivals of travelers suffered a year-on-year contraction of 47.1% in January 2023 and added 10,275 tourists.
Excluding the Cuban community abroad, the arrivals of Russian travelers were the third most important group in international tourism in January 2023, behind Canada and the United States. Their participation was, however, only 4.1% of the 249,255 travelers received in the first month of the year.
Russian tourism to the island, which had been the undisputed leader during the covid pandemic since the toughest restrictions were lifted, collapsed a year ago due to the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. . Although some countries, such as Cuba and Venezuela, kept their airports open, it was not enough because airlines had to circumvent the ban on flying in European airspace, which lengthened journeys and affected the profitability of routes.
After months of strike after the start of the Russian invasion on Ukrainian soil, in October 2022, Nordwind Airlines reactivated its direct flights between Moscow and the beaches of Varadero and Cayo Coco, with a journey of up to 13 hours via the North Pole. The company has permission for seven weekly operations aboard its Boeing 777-212.
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