More flights between Venezuela and Cuba will arrive at Holguín Airport.

The Cuban Airports and Airport Services Company (ECASA) announced via its social media that a new Venezuelan company would connect Caracas Airport with the airport terminals in Havana and Holguín with commercial flights. Although this connection schedule was not announced in early March, the airport company has now confirmed it. 

For a week now, users of the ECASA Telegram channel have been asking about flights from the Venezuelan company Turpial, with operational headquarters in Valencia, who were arriving at José Martí International Airport. "Please inform me if there are any commercial flights scheduled by Turpial Airlines to Caracas, Havana," they asked. 

Initially, the Cuban airline stated that Turpial was flying to Venezuela "only on collaborative flights, not commercial flights." "They have no commercial flights scheduled to any destination," it stated at the time. Users immediately criticized it for not being true to its claims. 

“On Saturday the 12th of this month, Turpial Airlines flight T99104 arrived at José Martí Airport from Caracas and took off that same day at 3 pm, returning to Caracas Maiquetía with flight number T99105. It was a commercial flight, not a collaboration flight,” explained a user who had flown that same day with Conviasa and had coincided in Havana with passengers from that connection. 

Shortly afterwards ECASA rectified and stated the following: “Indeed, We have just received confirmation of the authorization of commercial flights to Havana and Holguín."We apologize for any inconvenience." Commercial flights from Turpial are only via Havana and Holguín to Caracas, they later insisted. 

TURPIAL WITH FLIGHTS TO CUBA?

Despite this confirmation from ECASA, in the website There are no scheduled flights to Cuba from Turpial. They only have international flights to the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Mexico. They don't mention these connections to Cuba on their social media, but flights are happening. 

Where to buy tickets? According to the company's Twitter account, "It's easy to travel with Turpial Airlines by purchasing your international and domestic tickets without delays at our sales office. Opening hours: LuneFridays 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Saturdays 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Contact: 0424-435.28.85. 

Round-trip fares to the Dominican capital, for example, were around US$300 round-trip at the end of February. We're using this as an example because tickets to Cuba should be around that price, maybe a little more.