CUBA S EXPANDING CIVIL AVIATION WEB

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00283R000500070003-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 1, 1984
• Content Type: REPORT

Cuba's Expanding
Civil Aviation Web
I ~ ADri11984
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 Cuba's Expanding
Civil Aviation Web
of the Office of Global Issues, with a
contribution byDOfGce of Central 25X1
Reference. It was coordinated with the Department of
Comments and queries are welcome and may be
directed to the Chief. Geography Division, OGI, on
Secret
G7 84-10073
Ayri! 1984
 Cuba's Expanding
Civil Aviation Web
Key Judgments Civil aviation is an important element in Cuba's contacts with the rest of
Information ovailable the world. Its airlines serve its political goals by establishing a Cuban
as of l AO.iI x984 presence in countries Havana deems important as well as b
was used in (his re0ori. y pfOVlding a
means for supporting military and economic missions overseas and by 25X1
conducting some intelligence activities. The aviation sector is also a modest
Havana has managed to develop, largely, in the last 10 years, a thin
international network of flights with connections to the Caribbean, North
and South America, Europe, and Africa. These routes are serviced with a
potpourri of about 60 Cuban aircraft, mostly Soviet built, and a number of
aircraft leased from other countries. Cubana, the primary national carrier,
conducts both scheduled and nonscheduled flights to a variety of domestic
and foreign destinations. Cuba's charter airline, Aero Caribbean, is
focused primarily on tapping the lucrative tourist and cargo markets in the
In addition to their worldwide commercial activities, Cuba's airlines have
for years been involved in military activities. Flights operating under
Cubana and Aero Caribbean umbrellas-some of which reportedly use
military aircraft with civil markings-perform virtually all of Cuba's
international military airlifts and supplement the Cuban Air Force's
(DAAFAR) limited transport capability. Aircraft operating as nonsched-
uled charter flights have regularly transported military personnel and
iii Secret
G784-10073
ADri11984
Cuba will continue to expand its civil aviation links to areas of the world
where it wants to extend its political influence, support its overseas military
and civilian missions, and take advantage of the potential hard currency
earnings from tourist and cargo traffic. Latin America and, in particular,
the Caribbean Basin will remain the focus of these efforts because of
Havana's twin desires to undercut US influence in the region and to tap the
tourist market between the Caribbean and the rest of the Western world.
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 An fLfi1M. Jlagsbi0 of the
CubanPee~
One o(Cabaw's two Bristol-
Britannia BB 318s which has
been in service with the airline
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secret
Cuba's Expanding
Civil Aviation Web
Cuba's Airlines Today
Civil aviation is a valuable political, military, and
economic link to areas of the world the Cubans deem
important, as well as a modest generator of foreign
exchange for Cuba's beleaguered economy. Since
coming to power in 1959, Castro has slowly managed
to build a small international network of flights with
connections to Europe, Africa, North and South
America, and the Caribbean. Cabana, the primary
national carrier, services a number of foreign and
domestic points with both scheduled and nonsched-
uled flights and performs a variety of tasks within
Cuba, such as air ambulance service. Aero Caribbean
(also known as Aero Caribe), a government-owned
charter airline, was established in 1982 specifically to
tap the lucrative tourist and air cargo markets in the
Aircraft Fleet
Since the mid-1970s the Cubans have been slowly
modernizing their fleet, replacing older propeller-
driven aircraft with newer jets (see table). The entire
jet inventory of some 30 aircraft has been acquired
from the Soviets within the past eight years. Almost
half of these are medium- to long-range jets-four or
five medium-range TU-154s and nine long-range
IL-62Ms. Two additional IL-62Ms are leased from
Aeroflot for flights between Havana and Angola.
More recent additions to the jet fleet were 16
YAK-40s-small short-range trijets suitable mainly
The rest of Cuba's civil fleet consists of about 27 older
propeller-driven aircraft. Most significant are the 18
highly versatile AN-24 and AN-26 twin turboprops,
which have the range to reach any point in the
Caribbean and are used for both cargo and passenger
transport. Six long-range turboprops-four IL-18s
and two British-built Bristol-Britannias (BB-318s)-
are used to supplement the IL-62M jet transports on
long-range flights and for special flights, such as
cargo transport to Nicaragua. The inventory also
contains two or three operational IL-14 piston-engine
aircraft. In addition to these aircraft, Cuba also has a
variety of US-manufactured light aircraft and about
25X1
Aircraft Charters From Other Sources
Because the existing inventory is insufficient to fully
support Cuba's long-range transport needs-much
less its hopes to open up more lucrative markets for
tourism-Cuban civil air authorities historically have
supplemented their own aircraft capabilities by leas-
ing Western and Soviet aircraft. A variety of reports
indicate that:
? Several DC-8s were leased from Air Canada in the
mid-to-late 1970s.
? Two Boeing 707s were leased from Yugoslavia in
1982 for tourist charters from West Germany to 25X1
Cuba.
? Leased FINNAIR DC-8s were used for the initial
phase of the Aero Caribbean charter inaugurated
The Cubans have for some time been attempting to
augment their capabilities by obtaining US-built air-
craft for use between Cuba and Western Europe.
State Department reporting indicates that Havana
most recently has been trying to buy or lease Boeing
or McDonnell Douglas aircraft from Nicaragua,
Cabana's International Operations 25X1
In the nearly 55 years since its founding, Cabana has
grown from a small domestic carrier to a modest-sized
international airline with service to destinations in the
Caribbean, North and South America, Europe, and
Africa. Cabana began operations in 1929 as Com-
pania Nacional Cabana de Aviacion Curtiss. It
opened its first international route in 1946 with the
inauguration of service to Miami. Prior to the Castro
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 OCl-rel
1 .
.. 1
Cuban Inventory of Signi
ficant Aircraft ? (
as of December 1
983)
Type
Number
Engines
Capabilities
Range (kifameters)
Passengers
Cargo (metric tons)
IL-62 M Classic
9 =
let (4)
9,200
168 to 186
23
TU 154B Careless
4 to 5
Jet (3)
4,000
154 to 180
18
YAK 40 Codling
16
Jet (3)
1,800
27 to 32
2.4
BB-318 Britannia
2
Turbo prop (4)
8,600
130 to I40
16
IL-1 B Coot
4
Turbo prop (4)
6,500
I10 [0 122
13.5
IL-14 Crate
2 to 3 ~
Piston (2)
3,000
32
8
AN 24/26 Coke/Curl
18
Turbo prop (2)
2,500
38 to 40
4
? The Fleet also contains more than 50 alder light aircraft.
? Range with maximum fuel and light payload. Maximum number
of passengers calculated at all-tourist class. Cargo calculated at no
passengers, all-cargo operation-range severely degraded.
= In addition, two IL-62Ms arc leased from Aerotlo[.
~ Thirteen IL-14s are in inventory, but only two ar three are
operational. The others are out of service and are being cannibal-
iuA for spare parts.
takeover, Cubana operated a Fleet of 10 aircraft,
mostly US built, on routes to Madrid, Lisbon, Mexico
City, and New York, as well as to a number of
Following the Castro takeover, air transport in Cuba
was nationalized, and Cubana was consolidated with
two smaller airlines as Empresa Consolidada Cubana
de Aviation. With Cuba's swing into the Communist
sphere, however, international operations were drasti-
cally reduced as countries broke diplomatic relations
with the Castro government. Through the 1960s and
early 1970s, Cubana's international service was limit-
ed to connections to Mexico City, Madrid, Prague,
and Moscow. In the mid-1970s, however, Havana
began to rebuild Cubana's international network, as
many Latin American countries normalized relations
with Cuba, and Castro sought political and economic
ties with the non-Communist world. By the late
1970s, new routes linked Havana with numerous
destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean,
three in Africa, two in the Middle East, and one in
Canada. Cubana since then has added further to its
route network{
Scheduled Flights. According to published interna-
tional schedules, Cubana currently operates 22 week-
ly, two semimonthly, and two monthly flights to 18
countries over a route network of some 50,000 kilome-
ters (see figure 1):
In Europe IL-62Ms operate five times a week to
Madrid, with one of the flights going on to Paris and
another to Tripoli. Prague and East Berlin are
serviced weekly. All of the European Flights return
to Havana via Gander, Newfoundland, where they
refuel.
? Scheduled service to Latin America currently in-
cludes three weekly Flights to Mexiw City; two a
week to Panama City (one of which continues to
Lima, Peru); and one to Managua, Nicaragua. In
addition, Georgetown, Guyana, is serviced by a
TU-154 twice a month via Havana, Bridgetown,
Barbados, and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad; Kingston,
Jamaica, hosts a weekly AN-24 Flight. Service to St.
Georges, Grenada, and Paramaribo, Suriname, was
stopped in late October following the intervention in
Grenada.
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xcrer
? In Sub-Saharan Africa IL-62Ms are scheduled into
Luanda, Angola, three times a month with a refuel-
ing stop in Cape Verde. Once a month that same
flight stops in Accra, Ghana, before continuing to
Luanda and then Maputo, Mozambique.
? Scheduled service to Canada comprises eight weekly
flights to Montreal during the winter tourist season
to ferry Canadians to and from Cuban resorts; this
service usually drops to five flights a week during
the off season. These flights-the only Cubana
flights over US territory-skirt the coast before
Nonscheduled Flights. Cubana also frequently em-
ploys its aircraft on nonscheduled charter flights.
Because charter flights usually can be organized on
an ad hoc basis without a formal bilateral air agree-
ment, Cubana's charter network serves a wider vari-
ety of destinations (for example, Venezuela and addi-
tional stops in Western Europe) than its scheduled
route network (see figure 2); nonscheduled Cubana
charters last year reached seven more cities than the
scheduled service. These charter flights are aimed
primarily at the tourist market and the attendant hard
dissatisfaction with Cubana's failure to pursue those
markets aggressively was also a key factor in its
creation.' Aero Caribbean's first official flight in
December 1982 was to Cancun, Mexico, to pick up
tourists for Havana. The airline has since conducted
frequent nonscheduled passenger and cargo service
throughout the Caribbean Basin and last fall inaugu-
rated service to Western Europe with flights to Milan.
1t also services a number of Cuban cities including
Cayo Largo del Sur, Varadero, Santiago de Cuba,
Holguin, and Nueva Gerona on the Isle of Youth; its
Cubana charter flights to Venezuela illustrate the
wide range of Havana's hard currency earning
aircraft perform government-chartered cloud seedin
in eastern Cuba for rain enhancement.~~25X1
Bilateral Civil Aviation Agreements
Cuba's international route network of both scheduled
and nonscheduled flights is based primarily on bilater-
al civil aviation agreements with at least 46 countries
(see appendix). Most of these agreements give Cuba
overflight rights and landing and service privileges
and provide reciprocal rights in Cuba for each coun-
try's national carrier. Only seven countries-the
USSR, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Spain, Ango-
la, Canada, and Mexico-take advantage of their 25X1
reciprocal rights and fly scheduled routes to Havana.
Most agreements contain a charter clause to facilitate
nonscheduled tourist and cargo flights.0 25X1
Although the Cubans have generally stayed within 25X1
the terms specified in their bilateral treaties, they 25X1
special charter
have on several occasions been caught vtolating those
terms so blatantly that agreements or some attendant
privileges have been tem raril sus nded by the
other country.
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Cubana charter flights after Cubans were discovered 25X1
attempting to infiltrate unmanifested passengers into 25X1
Venezuela hidden aboard Cubana aircraft. The infil-
trators were able to bypass Venezuelan immigration 25X1
Barquisimeto, Venezuela, delivers racehorses and ' W e believe that a forerunner organization of Aero Caribbean may
gamecocks purchased by Wealth}' Venezuelans From have existed prior to the airline's formal incorporation in 1982.E
Aero Caribbean's Charter Operations
Aero Caribbean was formally established in October
1982 to tap the tourist and cargo markets in the
Caribbean region for badly needed foreign exchange.
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 According to oJJicial publications, all civil aviation in
Cuba is controlled and administered by the govern-
ment through the Cuban Civil Aeronautics /nstitute
Cubans
Airlines, the primary carrier, may now be directly
subordinate to the Ministry. Moreover, Aero Carib-
bean, although ostensibly agovernment-sponsored
private en[erprise, is also directly controlled by the
Ministry of Transportation,
Cubans, the larger and more organizationally com-
plex of the two civil carriers, reportedly employs
some 3,800 persons in its worldwide operations.
Cubana's president, Dixon Arlona Ledea, and lour
directors oversee operations, commerce, finance, and
public relations from Cubana's headquarters at Jose
Marti International Airport near Havana. ~
Aero Caribbean, an entity separate from Cubans,
occasionally uses some oI'Cubana's aircraft and
pilots. The charter airline's operations are nominally
directed by a president, Renaldo Del ado Garcia and
four vice presidents.
however, the Minister ransport, ui ermo Gar
cis Frias, is the defacto head of the airline. The
airline has formal, although unspec~ed, ties to the
Cuban National Institute 4f Tourism (/NTUR and
and customs but were later apprehended by Venezue-
lan authorities and deported. The United States also
suspended Cubans overflight rights for two weeks in
early 1983 following unauthorized diversions near
Griffis Air Force Base, New York, from the flight
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Cuban airlift operations are limited to some extent
by thefact that none q(Havana's large civil aircrgJi
are co~gured jor al!-cargo operation. Loading doors
are modest in size, and al! medium- and far a-sized 25X1
planes are set up jor passenger traffic.
the probable imminent ar- 25X1
rival of two ao four IL-76 Candids will provide a
qualitative change in capabilities. Although the /L-76
cannot transport any modern tank (even the T-SS is
too wide for its loading doorsJ, it has been designed to
operate out of poorly prepared fields and can life 40
tons over medium ranges. Acquisition of this aircraft
wi!! sharply enhance Cuba's airlift capability in the
Caribbean Basinfor carrying such military hardware
as armored personnel carriers, artillery, trucks, and
support equipment. 25X1
limited domestic transport capability.' The Air Force
supposedly operates no aircraft larger than an IL-14,
which has a capacity of only 8 metric tons and a range
of just 3,000 kilometers. The DAAFAR fleet is thus 25X1
totally inadequate for su rting Castro's foreign 25X1
military ventures.
Military Uses of Civil Aircraft
Flights operating under Cubana and Aero Caribbean
umbrellas perform all of Cuba's international airlifts
and supplement the-Cuban Air Force's (DAAFAR)
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Cabana nonscheduled charter flights
have been used to carry Cuban military personnel to
and from Angola' These special "charters" supple-
ment three scheduled Flights each month that we
believe also support the Cuban military presence in
Africa. During the first five months of the Cuban
airlift to Angola (September 1975 to January 1976),
Cabana's IL-18 and BB-318 aircraft completed 45
flights between Havana and Luanda, in the process
transporting an estimated 4,500 troops. Subsequent
loss of Barbados and Trinidad as refueling stops led to
Havana's decisions to lease Aeroflot IL-62M long-
range jets and then to acquire identical jets for the
Cuban inventory to continue to accomplish this mis-
sion. An average of 20 nonscheduled Flights per month
Since the Sandinista revolution in 1979, Cabana
aircraft also have been transporting civilian and mili-
tary personnel and su lies to and from Mana ua
Nicaragua.
total of 30 flights per month b both airlines were
flown last year; we believe,
that during the last half of 1983 they were engaged in
' Cuban cersonnel transiting to Ethiopia typically ^y to Luanda
where they catch an Ethiopian Airline Flight to Addis Ababa.
Hard Currency Issues
We believe that Cuba's civil aviation operations are a
modest-but potentially important-source of hard
currency for the country's beleaguered economy.
Many of the scheduled routes established for political
purposes are operated with low load factors and incur
significant losses. According to the American Embas-
sy in Lima, load factors on Cubana Flights into and
out of Lima between January 1982 and mid-1983, for
instance, ranged from only 26 percent to 42 percent.
The run to Jamaica is also operated at a loss, with
load factors of considerably less than 40 percent.' The
nonscheduled tourist charters, however, probably op-
erate profitably because they fly with higher load
factors and are usually ticketed with hard currency
payments. In particular, the charter Flights to Can-
cun, Montreal, Bonn, Cologne, and Milan are likely to
Cuba's desperate need for hard currency to service its
large foreign debt, nevertheless, has led the Cuban
regime over the last three years to take a number of
steps designed to make the aviation sector more of an
income earner. The most important move has been an
intensive effort to attract more tourist traffic by
offering special charter Flights and package arrange-
ments, especially in Western Europe. Since 1981
Cabana and two Cuban tour agencies, CUBATUR
and HAVANATUR, have opened offices in Luxem-
bourg, Frankfurt, and Paris and signed contracts with
European tour firms to encourage tourist travel to
Cuba. In the past year, charter flights have been
Flying during the summer season between Havana and
several West European cities, including London,
Frankfurt, Cologne, Bonn, and Paris. Aero Caribbean
has expanded the scope of its operations to include
cargo charters, and it recently inaugurated service to
Western Europe. The American Embassy in Lima
reported recently that Cubana was actively selling
discounted tickets for flights between Peru and Eu-
rope as well as improperly ticketing passengers for
debarkation at the technical stop in Panama City.
' At current comcetitivc international rates, aircraft must typically
ocerate with load factors of more than 50 cercent just to break
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JR~G{
To conserve the relatively small hard currency earn-
ings from its air operations, the Castro government
has atte ana's overseas o eratin
expenses
government was p annrng m 1 1 to imp ement re-
ductions in overseas personnel and salaries, to curtail
rest stops for flight crews, and to cut down on the
number of intermediate stops.
Service and Safety
We believe that service by Cuba's civil airlines is
generally poor and cannot compare to that offered on
Western airlines, or even on the Soviet airline Aero-
flot. Aircraft maintenance is a serious and continuing
problem because spare parts for the mostly Soviet-
built fleet are not readily available. Various reports
indicate that Cuban aircraft routinely exceed allowa-
ble flying time between maintenance intervals by
more than 50 percent-a practice that can be expect-
To conserve hard currency, the Cubans contract for
the cheapest services available at the international
airports they service. We believe that maintenance at
Madrid, Gander, Montreal, and Frankfurt may be
problems for the Cubans because of the constraints on
hard currency outflows. Moreover, in-flight services
Pilots and other flight personnel, however, are report-
edly well trained.
Future Directions
Cuba will continue to push the expansion of its civil
aviation links into areas of the world where it wants to
extend its political influence, support its overseas
military and civilian missions, and take advantage of
the potential for hard currency earnings from tourist
and cargo traffic. In such cases, we can expect
nonscheduled Cuban air service to be established as a
precursor of formal bilateral air agreements and the
inauguration of scheduled service. Latin America and
the Caribbean will remain the primary targets of such
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efforts, largely because of Castro's interest in under- 25X1
cutting US influence and enhancing his own in the 25X1
region. countries
where the Cubans are likely to push for new routes
because of their desire to establish a presence include
Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Be-
Cuban priorities in the rest of the world are difficult
to ascertain. In Europe the most likely candidates for
the establishment of scheduled service are West Ger-
many and Luxembourg because of the potential tour-
ist market there. Cuba already has charter arrange-
ments with tour operators in both countries.
25X1
Elsewhere, service is likely to be established to coon- 25X1
tries in which there is a current Cuban presence or
with which Cuba already has air agreements. These
would include, among others:
? In Africa: Ethiopia, Algeria, Guinea, Congo, Sierra
Leone, and Equatorial Guinea. 25X1
? In the Middle East: Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon (if
there is a resolution to the current conflict there
favorable to the Arab cause). 25X1
 Cuban Bilateral Civil Aviation Agreements,
as of February 1984 6
USSR and Eastero Europe
USSR
Bulgaria
Czechoslovokia
East Germany
Hungary
Poland
Westero Europe
France
Ireland
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Africa
Angola
Cape Verde
Congo
Equatorial Guinea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Guinea
Madagascar Republic
Mozambique
Sierra Leone
Tanzania
Middle East
Algeria
Iraq
Lebanon
Libya
Morocco
Syria
Asia
Laos
.Vietnam
North America
Canada
United States'
Latin America and the Caribbean
Barbados
Chile
.Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
Mexico
Netherlands Antilles
Nicaragua
Panama
Peru
Suriname'
Trinidad and Tobago
Venezuela
 Figure 1
Cubana Airlines: International Scheduled Routes, 1984
~~ ~
~Geprpe'f;
Cape Verde
.Sal
South South
Paci/ic - Atlantic
Ocean Ocean
-Scheduled route
---- Discontinued route
. Bsrlin
ar B
()
h - _ Madrid 0
~ \~Triti, 6 d,
 Figure 2
Cubans Airlines and Aero Caribbean: IntemaGonal Nonscheduled Routes'
SOUIh
Pacilic
Ocean
~St: Ge?rpei
,~Ceregea
Berquisimejo~
don! ? ? djn
/ ~ _~
T-1 I _ ~ 'l
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