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First direct flights launch between China and Cuba recently announced

Posted: 29-Oct-15 12:33

Air China has announced that it will operate the first ever direct flights between the Chinese capital of Beijing and the Cuban capital of Havana. The airline plans to start flying to Havana via Canada three times per week by the end of this year.

China and Cuba have agreed on a new direct air route between the countries' capitals of Beijing and Havana. Opening up the first ever direct connection between the two countries, Air China will operate the new flights three times a week from the end of this year.

Air China began operating flights between Beijing and the eastern Canadian city of Montreal in September 2015 and plans to use this as a basis for the Havana route. Flights between Beijing and Havana will take around 16 hours, stopping en route at Montreal. They will operate every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, commencing on 27 December 2015.

The new route will use Air China's wide-body Boeing 777-300ER fleet of aircraft, which can each seat up to 311 passengers. As well as creating a direct route between China and Cuba, the new flights will provide a connection between Montreal and Havana, which currently only has two scheduled flights per year. Though flights to Havana are scarce, there are several services linking the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto with Cuba's main beach resort of Varadero.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said it expects the new route to boost economic ties and promote cultural and person-to-person exchanges between China and Cuba. At a meeting earlier this year the two countries' civil aviation authorities expressed the wish to expand traffic rights and further deepen cooperation on aviation.

Air China is currently expanding into new markets and launching routes between China and destinations all over the world. There are new services to Melbourne Australia, Auckland in New Zealand, Mumbai in India and Johannesburg, South Africa, making it one of the only airlines to fly to every inhabited continent.

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