Air China started a three-times a week service to Cuba on 27 December – the first route to the country from China.

The carrier now operates services on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays from Beijing Capital International Airport to Havana, via Montreal (Canada).

Air China vice chairman, Wang Yinxiang says in recent years, the economic and trade ties between China and Cuba have become increasingly closer.

She says the Beijing-Montreal-Havana service has filled a longstanding gap in the aviation market between China and Cuba and the Caribbean, and will further promote the economic, trade, cultural and tourism development of the two regions.

In 2015, Air China started 29 international routes, and now the carrier’s route network has been expanded to all the six continents of the world.