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The Antonio Maceo International Airport in Santiago de Cuba received this Friday the inaugural flight from the Venezuelan airline RUTACA, which will connect the city of Valencia, Venezuela, with the eastern Cuban city on a weekly basis.
The new route is primarily aimed at city, religious, and cultural tourism segments, and represents the third connection that RUTACA has established with Cuba in the last two years, following the Caracas-Holguín route (March 2024) and the Valencia-La Habana route (July 2025).
Prior to the arrival of the aircraft, specialists from RUTACA, Havanatur, and the Cuban Airports and Airport Services Company (ECASA) held a business meeting to assess the potential of the connection and outline expansion projections.
The parties "expressed great hopes for this new Caribbean route, which could in the future establish direct links between Caracas, Havana, and other cities in the region."
The opening of this route occurs in a context of severe tourist crisis in Cuba. The country recorded just 1.8 million visitors in 2025, compared to 4.7 million in 2017, with hotel occupancy not exceeding 20% in 2026.
This drop is compounded by the shortage of Jet A1 fuel at Cuban airports, which has limited international operations, and four months without external oil between December 2025 and April 2026, as acknowledged by Díaz-Canel himself.
The Antonio Maceo Airport, the main air gateway of eastern Cuba, also experienced a temporary closure due to Hurricane Melissa between October and November 2025, and is set to undergo renovations to double its capacity in terms of lounges, baggage, immigration, and climate control between 2026 and 2027.
RUTACA is a Venezuelan private airline founded in 1974, headquartered in Ciudad Bolívar and with a hub at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Caracas. It operates with a fleet of approximately eight aircraft, including Boeing 737-300 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80, and employs over 300 staff.
Its expansion into Cuba began in March 2024 with the inauguration of the Caracas-Holguín route, which was the first air connection with Latin America for that province since the pandemic. In July 2025, the airline resumed flights between Valencia and Havana with a bi-weekly frequency, at a cost of 450 dollars round trip, including two bags of 23 kilograms each.
RUTACA is not the only Venezuelan airline that has invested in the Cuban market: Turpial Airlines, linked to chavismo, also inaugurated a route between Caracas and Cuba in July 2025, as part of the close political and economic ties between both governments.
According to the organizers, with the new flight, "RUTACA and its Cuban partners reaffirm their commitment to strengthening tourist and commercial exchange between the insular and continental Caribbean, providing Venezuelan travelers with a direct gateway to the rich history and culture of Santiago de Cuba."
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