You wouldn’t expect to see Air China operating a route between Spain and Cuba, but that’s exactly what’s about to happen, as flagged by AeroRoutes.
Air China launches Beijing to Madrid to Havana route
As of May 17, 2024, Air China will launch a new 2x weekly flight from Beijing (PEK) to Havana (HAV) via Madrid (MAD). The route will be operated by a Boeing 787-9 with the following schedule:
CA865 Beijing to Madrid departing 7:00AM arriving 12:45PM
CA865 Madrid to Havana departing 2:45PM arriving 6:30PM
CA866 Havana to Madrid departing 11:55PM arriving 3:30PM (+1 day)
CA866 Madrid to Beijing departing 5:30PM arriving 10:30AM (+1 day)
The entire journey between Beijing and Havana covers a distance of 10,378 miles, with the first sector covering 5,734 miles, and the second sector covering 4,644 miles.
The flight between Madrid and Havana is a fifth freedom route, so you could fly the airline exclusively between those two cities. That’s not even Air China’s only fifth freedom flight out of Madrid, as the airline also flies to Sao Paulo (GRU).
For context, this Havana flight represents a service resumption to Cuba for Air China, though with a different route. Between 2015 and 2020, Air China operated a 3x weekly flight from Beijing (PEK) to Havana (HAV) via Montreal (YUL). That was also a fifth freedom flight, so flying from Montreal to Havana on Air China sure was an interesting option.
The Madrid to Havana route sure is a competitive one, as it’s already served by Air Europa, Cubana, Iberia, and World2Fly. Gosh, what I’d give to fly Cubana on that route (purely from an avgeek perspective!).
What’s Air China’s logic for flying to Cuba?
I can’t imagine this route is primarily motivated by commercial viability, though perhaps it won’t perform too poorly, given that it’s a fifth freedom route. There’s demand between Beijing and Madrid, and there’s demand between Madrid and Havana, so perhaps Air China won’t have issues filling seats, even if the yields aren’t great.
But I have to imagine the primary motivation here is political, and that this is about having a direct(ish) link between China and Cuba. That’s the only logical explanation, since it’s not like there’s much tourism demand between the two countries. Cargo is probably also a consideration, though I imagine that’s secondary.
Air China is far from the only airline to operate routes like this that are primarily politically motivated. For example, look at the long haul network of Conviasa, a Venezuelan airline. The company has flown between Caracas (CCS) and Damascus (DAM), Moscow (VKO), and Tehran (IKA). I think everyone can decide for themselves why those routes exist.
Bottom line
Air China is resuming service to Cuba, as the airline is adding a route from Beijing to Madrid to Havana. Before the pandemic, the airline flew from Beijing to Montreal to Havana, so this marks a service resumption. Flying Air China between Spain and Cuba has to be one of the more unusual fifth freedom flights out there.
What do you make of Air China’s new Cuba route?
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