José Martí International Airport ,éMartí sometimes known by its former name Rancho Boyeros Airport, is an international airport located southwest of the centre of Havana, Cuba, and is a hub for Cubana de Aviación and Aerogaviota, and former Latin American hub for the Soviet (later Russian) airline Aeroflot. It is Cuba's main international airport, and serves several million passengers each year. The facility is operated by Empresa Cubana de Aeropuertos y Servicios Aeronáuticos (ECASA).
The airport lies in the municipality of Boyeros and connects Havana with the rest of the Caribbean, North, Central and South America, as well as Europe. It is named in memory of patriot and poet José Martí.
Private Cuban citizens are not allowed to own aircraft; all aircraft in Cuba belong to state-owned airlines or the military. Only government- and foreign-owned aircraft are allowed to use the facilities. As of 2020, Copa Airlines was the foreign airline with most flights to the airport, operating 34 flights a week (roughly five daily flights) from Panama City, Panama and Bogotá, Colombia.
History
The current José Martí Airport in 1930 replaced the Columbia Airfield, which was the first airport to serve Havana. The original name of the airport, Rancho Boyeros, meaning the "(Bull) Drover Ranch", was in reference to the name of the plains where the airport was being built. It was known as the Rancho Boyeros because in colonial times a local family had built a thatched hut and provided meals and an inn to the weary drovers that brought agricultural products to the capital from Batabanó and Vuelta Abajo.
To give a progressive environment to the airport, the old ranch homes were transformed into a small town that would serve as an industrial, livestock, agriculture and commercial centre, rising comfortable homes, an industrial technical school, a paint factory and other facilities. The town today is known as the Boyeros Municipality.
Beginnings
1929: The construction of José Martí Airport, formerly Rancho Boyeros Airport, was authorized in March 1929 by General Order No. 223. 1930: On February 24, the airport opened, replacing Havana Columbia Airfield. 1930: On October 30, the first flight by Cubana de Aviación (formerly Compañía Nacional Cubana de Aviación Curtiss) from Havana to Santiago de Cuba carried the mail on a Ford Trimotor with stops in Santa Clara, Morón and Camagüey. 1936: non-commercial flights to Madrid started with a Lockheed Sirius named September 4, commanded by Capt. Antonio Menéndez Pélaez. She was flown via Venezuela, Natal, Brazil, and Dakar, Senegal. 1943: By January 1943 the airport had its first control tower, the first in the country. 1945: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is formed at Havana. 1945: Cubana's first international flight out of the airport was a Douglas DC-3 to Miami on May 15. 1946: First transatlantic flight from any Latin American country to Europe: Havana-Madrid was on DC-4, operated by Aerovias Cubanas Internacionales (Cunnair), founded by Cuban pioneer Reinaldo Ramirez Rosell. 1948: On May 5 Cubana's first transatlantic flight Havana-Madrid was on DC-4 Estrella de Cuba. 1950: On April 2 the airport had a second route to Europe, Havana-Rome on a Cubana de Aviación DC-4. 1951: The first night flight landed at the airport from Santiago de Cuba with a DC-3. 1953: First flight to Mexico City on a Cubana Constellation.