Cubana

[flying officer kite]

Guys,
Im looking at going from Gatwick to Cuba with Cubana (i like my Russian technology). This'll be on an IL96, then maybe onwards to Quito or somewhere that i can get an IL62 ride. I can book the 1st sector but any ideas as to how id book the other sector, or even any info on what aircraft typically do what routes? The airlines website isnt that great.

thanks

[Capetonian]

I had a quick look at their schedules and these are the only routers I could find operated by Russian a/c. I can't promise that this is complete though, I may have missed some.

CU348 HAV BOG ops with Tupolev 204/214 (SAT)
CU360 HAV EZE ops with Ilyushin 96 (FRI and SUN)
CU250 HAV NAS ops with Yakovlev 42 (FRI)
CU1310 HAV CCS ops with Ilyushin 62 (FRI)
CU4312 HAV CCS ops with Ilyushin 62 (SUN)

[ConstantFlyer]

There are a couple of places on the web you can go to to book a range of weird and wonderful and unusual airlines. One is called Alternative Airlines and the other is Hahn Air. I've not used either to book a flight, but it seems you can (or so they say); however, I have got plenty of useful information from them.

The last I heard, Cubana was having a few problems with the IL-96, and had drafted in EuroAtlantic 767s or the like to keep services going.

[WHBM]

Bear in mind that the actual type used by Cubana on the day can bear little relation to the scheduled type, in particular on routes where there does not need to be a crew slip. Even on these there can be many changes around, which they have their own ways of handling the crewing of.

The IL96 is as good and reliable as any other type, but is prone to be AOG as the only major source of spares beyond regular consumables is in Russia, there being no easy supply in the Western Hemisphere.