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Revolutionary origins and early years


Revolutionary origins and early years

#4 in the Top 5 Winners of the 2020 Cold War Era Berlin Challenge (http://www.airline-e...e-2#entry286512)

Cuba's flag carrier had its origins during the Cuban Revolution, when Fidel Castro and his socialist government overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and went on a nationalization spree by expropriating many private businesses and properties throughout Cuba, which included passenger airlines Aerovías Q and Compañía Cubana de Aviación, S.A. along with cargo airlines Cuba Aeropostal and Expreso Aéreo Interamericano. At that time, Aerovías Q operated passenger-converted Douglas DC-4 and Curtiss C-46 aircraft while Cubana de Aviación operated longer-range Bristol Britannia 318 and Vickers Super Viscount VV-818 aircraft. Cargo airlines Cuba Aeropostal and Expreso Aéreo Interamericano both used freighter variants of the Douglas DC-3 and Curtiss C-46.

Cubana de Aviación served as the closest predecessor to the present-day airline, operating long-haul international flights to Europe and the Americas from Havana's José Martí International Airport. It was also a founding member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association of airlines established in Havana in 1945. Aerovías Q had many daily flights from Columbia Airport (at the time a mixed-use military/civilian airport adjacent to the Miramar district) to Key West, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and the Isle of Pines (renamed Isla de la Juventud since the mid-1960s), but its operations were moved to José Martí shortly before the state takeover. Cuba Aeropostal had frequent cargo flights to Miami and within Cuba, while Expreso Aéreo Interamericano operated cargo flights to Central America and the Caribbean.

Just prior to the nationalisation of Cuba’s four private airlines, Columbia Airport (which at the time was part of the Camp Columbia military base) began to be used solely for military traffic and was renamed Ciudad Libertad, while José Martí would serve all commercial air traffic. In May 1959, the Castro administration amalgamated all carriers into what eventually became the state-owned successor, which Castro officially founded on 1 August under the name Sociedad Anónima Cubana de Transportación Aerea (SACTA). Under Castro's socialist agendas, SACTA would be promoted as a "people's airline" with the intent to serve as an essential means of transportation within Cuba and would be the only company allowed to operate commercial flights to and from the country.

The revolution not only resulted in an exodus of many experienced cabin crew and technicians from Cuba to foreign airlines in the early 1960s, but it also led to the U.S. imposing an embargo on Cuba during this period, forcing SACTA to cancel all the U.S. routes it inherited from its privately-owned predecessors. At this point the airline turned to the Soviet Union to obtain new aircraft, hence becoming the first airline in the Western Hemisphere to operate Soviet-built planes. The airline acquired its first Ilyushins (one Il-14 and one Il-18) around this time, which were later supplemented by Antonov An-12 and An-24 aircraft (see next image).

Pictured here is CU-T830, an Ilyushin Il-18D christened "La Habana." SACTA operated this aircraft for the launch of its Havana-Gander-East Berlin route in 1961, its first-ever route serving Eastern Europe. Besides its supposed political purpose of linking Cuba with its communist ally East Germany, there was a bigger reason why the airline began operating this route. SACTA had to rely on having its Soviet-built fleet serviced at East Berlin's Schönefeld Airport due to a lack of spare parts and qualified aircraft technicians in Havana. This was a rather cumbersome arrangement that inevitably required ghost flights on a periodic basis and made it difficult for the airline to increase frequencies on some routes within its network.



    Interesting.

    UPDATE: Red stripe added

    UPDATE: New background