Air China will fly twice a week to Havana with prices over $1,300

Air China, the flag airline of the Asian country, will fly to Havana twice a week, from next May 17, to prices that exceed $1,300.

The Chinese airline offers round-trip tickets from Havana to Beijing at a cost of $1,350 dollars with hand luggage and a free check-in bag, announced its representative in the country, Zhang Xin, to the official portal Cubadebate.

Meanwhile, the One-way flight price is $812, also with hand luggage and a free check-in bag, the official reported.

As Xin explained, the Direct flights to Havana will have an initial frequency of twice a week, but Air China hopes to increase its frequency in the future.

“In the future we will focus on offering better and more convenient services to increase flights and freight services,” he said.

The Asian airline began operating in Cuba in 2015, but suspended flights during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resumption of operations comes amid the critical economic, and particularly tourism, depression on the island.

The Cuban regime has not stopped insisting on “awakening interest in the Cuban destination and contributing to the recovery of the country's tourism industry.”

Elizabeth Vela, tourism advisor in Cuba for Asia, said that “they will work on joint strategies with Chinese travel agencies and Cuban companies to promote tourism from China to the island.”

The official specified that "tourist products adapted to the preferences of Chinese tourism" are being designed, with the intention of "turning Cuba into the preferred destination for tourists from that country in the Caribbean."

A decisive step in such purposes by the Cuban government was announced this Saturday, when at the closing of the 42nd International Tourism Fair (FITCuba 2024) the minister of the sector, Juan Carlos García Granda, announced the visa exemption for Chinese citizens with ordinary passports.

“Both parties agree on the need to continue creating conditions and a favorable environment to strengthen relations in multiple sectors, including the development of tourism,” stated García.

However, The consolidation of the ties of both regimes in the tourism sphere does not take into account Cuban citizens, who continue to be required to have a visa to travel to the Asian country..

Cubans need a visa to travel to 149 countries and they have free access to only 28 destinations. The Cuban passport is ranked 134th worldwide, according to VisaGuide Passport Index.

According to official statistics, In 2019, China ranked 13th among the countries that sent the most foreign tourists to Cuba, with 44,873 arrivals.. After the impasse imposed by COVID, in 2023 only 18,003 Chinese travelers visited the island.