José Martí International Airport

Havana's airport opened in 1930 at Rancho Boyeros, just south of the city. It grew fast and became one of the busiest international airports in Latin America. Cuba sat right on the path between North and South America. In 1927, Pan American World Airways flew its first international flight, from Key West to Havana. That flight helped make Cuba a key stop in Pan Am's growing network.

The 1940s and 1950s were Havana's glamorous years. American airlines flew in large crowds from Miami and New York every day. Then the 1959 revolution and a US embargo cut off most of that traffic almost overnight. The airport was renamed for Jose Marti, the poet and independence leader. Cuba turned toward the Soviet bloc, and Cubana flew Soviet built planes to Moscow, Prague, and East Berlin.

A modern terminal, Terminal 3, opened in 1998 as tourism grew from Canada, Europe, and Latin America. Scheduled United States flights returned in 2016, after a diplomatic thaw between the two countries. They shrank again from 2019, when Washington banned US flights to every Cuban airport except Havana and tightened travel rules. Jose Marti remains Cuba's main gateway and the hub of a national airline often held back by shortages.

Jose Marti has a single runway, 06/24, about 4,000 meters long. Its terminals are scattered around the field instead of grouped together.

Terminal 3 handles most international flights. Terminal 2 was built for charter flights from the United States, Terminal 1 covers domestic flights, and another terminal serves regional and Caribbean routes. Cubana de Aviacion is the home airline, but fleet shortages have often grounded much of its planes. Airlines from Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Panama now carry most passengers. Fuel and spare parts, complicated by sanctions, remain constant problems.