Aircraft
Moscow Commits To Reviving Cubana Fleet
The Kremlin agrees to provide most of the funding to resuscitate Cuba’s airliners.
The first Cubana Ilyushin Il-96-300 rolls out of VASO's assembly hall in Voronezh, Russia, in 2005. (Photo: Vladimir Karnozov)
The first Cubana Ilyushin Il-96-300 rolls out of VASO's assembly hall in Voronezh, Russia, in 2005. (Photo: Vladimir Karnozov)

The Kremlin has agreed to restore the airworthiness of Cubana’s fleet of Russian and Ukrainian jets and open a local maintenance and repair center to support the Cuban flag carrier. The sides signed the agreement during an official visit to Havana by Yuri Borisov, the vice premier responsible for Russia’s military-industrial complex. “We have found a proper way out of the [difficult] situation that would see the fleet of the Cuban carriers to be restored into a flightworthy condition,” he proclaimed.