HAVANA, May 13th. Turkish Airlines will increase the number of weekly flights to Cuba to five during the 2024-2025 season.
The Turkish national airline will introduce the fifth weekly Istanbul-Havana-Caracas-Istanbul frequency starting November 15 aboard a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, according to the specialized portal AeroRoutes.
The price of round-trip tickets indicated on the company’s website will be approximately $1,250 from the agreed date for November.
Although Turkey is not among the main sources of tourists to Cuba, the Eurasian country could serve as a bridge for travelers from countries like Russia.
Founded in 1933 under the name Administration of State Airlines (DHY), Turkish Airlines is based at Istanbul Airport.
The company has a fleet of 315 aircraft and reaches more than 322 destinations in Turkey, in countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America, which makes it one of the first airlines in the world by destinations in more countries and also by concept of served destinations.
Turkish began its operations in Cuba in 2016.
In 2022, Turkey’s national airline announced that it would fly three times a week to Havana. Prior to that announcement, they had a frequency of two weekly flights to the Cuban capital, on Mondays and Fridays.
In 2022, the latest official data available indicates that only 9,190 Turkish tourists traveled to Cuba that year. In 2019, the year before the pandemic, 15,150.
In the aspiration of reaching 3.5 million international tourists this year, the Ministry of Tourism has strived to increase direct air connections to Cuba.
The regime has pinned its hopes on markets such as China, Türkiye, Poland and Russia.
The Cuban Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García, announced the visa exemption for Chinese citizens in early May.
Although there are currently no direct flights between China and Cuba, Air China plans to resume the Beijing-Havana flight, via Madrid, on May 17.
Following the Cuban government’s announcement of visa exemption starting in May for Chinese citizens who want to visit the island, searches skyrocketed on the Ctrip travel platform, as revealed by the Asian nation’s press.
Another recent announcement to promote tourism on the island was the implementation of a new electronic system for managing tourist visas, called Evisa, “which will allow us to offer a more efficient and agile service to users who request it through the Cuban consular offices abroad”.
Until April 26, Cuba had received more than one million international tourists in 2024, according to data from the Cuban Ministry of Tourism.