Cuban State Airline Celebrates Return of Tupolev Tu-204E Aircraft
The Cuban state aviation airline, Cubana de Aviación, announced on Tuesday that it will once again have a Tupolev Tu-204E type aircraft in its fleet. The aircraft underwent maintenance in Russia before its return to Cuba.
According to a post on the airline’s Facebook page, the specific aircraft is the Tu-204-100E with registration CU-T1702. It was transferred to Russia where it underwent an extensive and heavy maintenance process. The airline did not provide details on when the aircraft was taken to Russia.
Aircraft enthusiasts on the page Airlines Geek reported that the plane was transported to Russia in July 2019. From there, it flew to Reykjavik, Iceland, before arriving in Canada on September 17. Finally, it landed in Havana at 4:53 PM local time, marking the first flight of a Cuban company aircraft since the IL96s were sent to Russia in August of last year. The only exception during this period was an ATR-72.
Currently, Cubana de Aviación only has 12 planes in its fleet. Six of these are Antonov AN158, which have been grounded since 2018 due to a serious accident in May of that year. The fleet also includes two Ilyushin IL-96-300s, one stored in Havana since July 2021 and the other in Russia since August 2022. Of the three Tupolev TU204s, two have been stored in Havana since 2015 and 2017, with the third being the recently repaired aircraft.
Despite the limited number of active aircraft, Cubana de Aviación expressed its optimism and stated that it “continues to grow big” upon celebrating the return of the Tupolev Tu-204E. With the resumption of flights using this aircraft, Cuba will join Russia and North Korea as the only three countries with scheduled commercial flights on board the Tupolev Tu-204E.
Currently, all Cubana flights, except some domestic routes, are operated using chartered aircraft. Even the airline’s main international routes, such as Buenos Aires and Madrid, are covered by Airbus A340-300s leased from the Spanish company PlusUltra.
The Institute of Civil Aeronautics of Cuba (IACC) recently forced the withdrawal of Cubana de Aviación’s fleet of Antonov An-158 aircraft due to avionics problems. The ATR72 remains the only aircraft in the airline’s fleet that is still active for commercial flights.
Despite the challenges faced by Cubana de Aviación, the return of the Tupolev Tu-204E marks a positive step for the airline and the Cuban aviation industry as a whole.