[REPORT] Boliviana de Aviación’s inaugural flight to Havana

Boliviana de Aviación inaugurated its flights between Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Havana on October 26th. The Bolivian state airline will operate once a week on Boeing 737-800 aircraft with the following schedule:

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Flight	From	ETD	To	ETA
OB 1756	Santa Cruz (VVI)	18:30	Havana (HAV)	01:00 +1
OB 1751	Havana (HAV)	02:00	Santa Cruz (VVI)	08:30

Flight frequency

• OB 1756: Thursdays.
• OB 1751: Fridays.

Havana, at that time, became Boliviana’s sixth international destination. Five days later, the company began operations to Caracas, also from Viru Viru, reaching its seventh international route.

Thanks to an invitation I received from Boliviana de Aviación, we had the opportunity to be on the first flight between Bolivia and Cuba. Let’s go with the report:

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The inaugural flight, unlike the regular schedule, departed from Viru Viru on Thursday at 08:30, with the objective of arriving at José Martí Airport in the Cuban capital during the early afternoon, and thus be able to enjoy a tour of the city, as well as different official events, all organized by the company.

Therefore, the trip started very early, leaving Buenos Aires at 02:30 to Cochabamba, and by 06:20 going on to Viru Viru. Both flights were very well booked, especially the Ezeiza – Cochabamba, a route inaugurated at the beginning of this year.

After going through immigration as quickly as possible, I arrived at the international pre-boarding area minutes before 08:30. However, since it was an inaugural flight, there was no major problem, as the Bolivian government representatives and Boliviana de Aviación executives had just begun to make their presentations.

An important fact about the inaugural flight is that BoA invited many press, especially from Bolivia. We were one of the only international press (or maybe the only one).

After the end of the speeches and the ceremony of the ribbon cutting, the boarding of the inaugural flight began.

Viru Viru Airport has an important daily schedule. However, a large percentage are Boliviana de Aviación flights. In one of the talks, it was commented that BoA transports between 15,000 and 20,000 passengers daily, obviously not all of them to and from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, but it moves a lot of traffic as it is their hub.

Another way to understand it, the airplanes

Boliviana de Aviación’s Airbus A330-200, Boeing 737-300 and Boeing 767-300 at the airport

The Airbus A330 was bound for Buenos Aires. It departed minutes after 10 am. Meanwhile, the Boeing 767 to Sao Paulo, and the Boeing 737s to different domestic destinations.

«Our Boeing 737″, the one registered as CP-3151.

Boeing 737-300 en route to Cochabamba

Behind can be seen the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner of Air Europa, which operates to and from Madrid’s Barajas airport.

Boarding

Havana

Boeing 737-800 seats

I had already seen this with the previous two flights, but I emphasize the legroom. I’m almost one meter ninety, and I had no problem in any of the five flights I did with BoA.

With and without the backpack, the place was fine. You could stretch your legs, and all the better for a flight of almost 7 hours.

We’re leaving

The plane was quite full, between press and passengers

Safety card

The magazine, which shows what would be the airline’s eighth international destination

Asunción will start soon, with no confirmed date at the moment

On the way to Cuba

After taking off from Viru Viru, we were given breakfast

In my case, I chose to drink water, but you could drink any hot beverage (tea, coffee)

We continue our journey

A few hours later, we were given lunch.

Chicken with pasta, some vegetables, bread and a dessert, which was chocolate. You could choose any cold drink, and also a hot one after finishing the meal.

Above the Caribbean

We started to descend to Havana, and the Cuban territory began to be seen.

We landed at José Martí International Airport

I would like to thank Boliviana de Aviación for the invitation to the inaugural flight between Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Havana. It was a pleasure to have been able to get to know two new countries that I had not visited before, and also an airline that I had not flown previously.

In addition, I want to highlight the kindness of the crew throughout the flight, the comfort of the aircraft and the invitation to the city tour of Havana.