The new flights will begin on November 2 and will take place every two weeks on an Airbus A340-600.
LIMA, Peru – The Venezuelan airline Conviasa announced the start of regular and direct flights between Saint Petersburg (Russia) and Caracas (Venezuela) with a connection in the city of Varadero (Cuba).
The news was confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Transport and follows a recent meeting of the heads of that sector from both countries.
“Conviasa has received authorization to operate flights to Saint Petersburg in the next season, which will open new opportunities for tourism and business cooperation between our countries,” says the official note, cited by the media. The Universal.
The flights will begin on November 2nd, will take place every two weeks on an Airbus A340-600 and will last approximately 13 hours.
Conviasa already has two air connections in Moscow: a regular flight every two weeks and a charter service every 10 days.
The new route between Venezuela and Russia, with a stopover in Cuba, will be inaugurated on November 1 with a welcome flight from Saint Petersburg.
Despite the incentive of operations such as Conviasa, tourism on the Island has not managed to take off and is far from reaching the modest pre-pandemic figures of the last decade.
Decline in tourism in Cuba
Cuba received 1,259,972 international tourists between January and August of this year, which represents a drop of 21.6% compared to the same period in 2024, according to data from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
The decrease confirms the negative trend of the Cuban tourism sector, which is increasingly moving further away from the idyllic official goal of 2.6 million international visitors in 2025. With current figures, it is unlikely that it will even exceed the 2.2 million registered last year.
The most pronounced declines are concentrated in traditional issuing markets. Canada, the main source of tourists to the Island, sent more than 100,000 fewer visitors than in 2024. Strong declines are also reported from Russia (more than 50,000 fewer), Germany (-41.4%), Spain (-27.7%) and France (-24.7%).
Even the flow of Cubans residing abroad, Usually considered a stable segment, it experienced a significant contraction in these months.
