Expansion in the 1970s and 1980s

By the start of the 1970s, SACTA's fleet consisted of five Antonov An-24Bs, four Britannias 318s, two C-46s, four DC-3s, one DC-4, ten Il-14s, and four Il-18s. The debut of Tupolev Tu-154, Ilyushin Il-62M, Il-76, Yakovlev Yak-40, and Yak-42 jets would enable the airline to upgrade domestic services in addition to launching new flights to Central and South America as well as other Caribbean destinations. During this decade SACTA grew to become the largest airline in the Caribbean by fleet size and number of destinations served, operating a comprehensive domestic network in Cuba in addition to the following international destinations from its hub at Havana: Barbados, Berlin (Schönefeld), Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, Georgetown, Guatemala City, Kingston, Lima, London (Gatwick), Madrid, Managua, Mexico City, Milan, Moscow (Sheremetyevo), Montreal, Nassau, Panama City, Paris (Orly), Port of Spain, Prague, San José (Costa Rica), Santo Domingo, Toronto, and Warsaw.

In 1977 SACTA became the first Latin American carrier to serve Asia with the launch of service to Baghdad, Iraq via Sal Island in Cape Verde, though this route would be short-lived. A route to Vietnam was under consideration but never materialised for unknown reasons. The 1980s marked the launch of service to mainland Africa with flights to Bissau, Luanda, and Maputo. SACTA subsequently ceded one of its Ilyushin Il-62M jets to TAAG Angola Airlines so that it could start its own Luanda-Havana flights in cooperation with SACTA's services on that route. This service arrangement would allow TAAG to start its first-ever transatlantic route.

Registation: CU-T1224
Aircraft name: Cienfuegos