Air China adds a Havana flight to move stranded travelers

Air China scheduled an additional flight from Havana for travelers stranded after cancellations on its regular service, The Traveler reported. The flight, CA590, is due to depart José Martí International Airport on the night of 19 October 2026. The outlet says the schedule was made public through information from China’s embassy in Havana.

The embassy notice, as described by The Traveler, covers passengers whose CA866 flights were canceled on or before 10 October. Those travelers can go to the Air China counter at Havana airport on 19 October and seek rebooking onto CA590 without an additional charge. The notice sets out the eligible cancellation window and the airport counter as the route for arranging a seat.

CA866 connects Havana with Madrid and continues onward to Beijing. The Traveler says the service has faced repeated schedule changes and cancellations during what it describes as a fuel crisis in Cuba. It identifies disruptions on both the Madrid–Havana and Havana–Madrid legs, including revised timings as well as cancellations.

The outlet characterizes the extra service as temporary and says it is intended to accommodate passengers whose places on CA866 were affected by those changes. Its account does not describe the number of travelers eligible for rebooking or the capacity of CA590.

The core arrangement reported is a separate flight for affected passengers, with the airline counter handling the rebooking process. Reuters and marketscreener.com frame their headlines around China adding an extra Havana flight as Cuba’s fuel crisis strands travelers.

The South China Morning Post headline describes China’s flag carrier as arranging to fly stranded passengers out of fuel-starved Cuba. The Traveler likewise connects the travel disruption to the fuel crisis, while providing the flight number, date, eligibility cutoff and rebooking instructions.

For travelers seeking to use the arrangement, the stated condition is that their CA866 flight was canceled on or before 10 October, and the stated place to request a seat is the Air China counter at Havana airport on 19 October. The account identifies no further rebooking channel or additional eligibility conditions.