DALLAS — Russia's Aeroflot group announced today that Aeroflot's (SU) subsidiary, Pulkovo Airport-based Rossiya Airlines (FV), will resume scheduled passenger flights to Cuba after a year-long hiatus.

The first scheduled FV flight to the Cuban resort of Varadero (VRA) took off early today from Moscow's Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport (SVO). The nonstop Cuba route, operated on a wide-body Boeing 777 and with a flight time of 14 hours and 45 minutes covering 5,950 miles, will run twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays, with another scheduled to begin in September of this year.

Russian carriers halted regular passenger flights to Cuba, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic in February 2022, due to EU bans on the use of the bloc's airspace, shortly after Russia launched an unprovoked attack against Ukraine.

Russian low-cost carrier Nordwind Airlines (N4) operates charter flights from Russia to Cuba, flying to Varadero and the island of Cayo Coco. The airline also charters to Margarita Island.

Rossiya Airlines, also known as Rossiya—Russian Airlines, is one of the Russian Federation's oldest and largest airlines. It was established on May 7, 1934.

Featured image: Rossiya Airlines Boeing 777. Photo: Adrian Nowakowski/Airways