Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Abel Santamaria Airport (MUSC) serves Santa Clara in Villa Clara Province, Cuba, and is the principal gateway for tourists bound for Cayo Santa Maria and the northern keys. It operates a single very long runway shared with military helicopter units, making it an unusual mixed civil-military field for a simulator pilot to explore.
Abel Santamaria Airport lies near Santa Clara, capital of Villa Clara Province in Cuba, and is operated by ECASA. It is named after the Cuban revolutionary Abel Santamaria and functions as an international airport handling both scheduled passenger traffic and military helicopter operations, giving it an interesting dual character for a visiting sim pilot: a long ex-military runway now serving airliners from North America and Europe alongside Mi-17 and Mi-24/35 helicopters.
The airport sits in Cuban airspace serving Santa Clara and is described as the main entry point for tourists travelling to Cayo Santa Maria and the other keys on the northern coast of Villa Clara Province. It also serves Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus Provinces. The field is located at Aeropuerto Ward, Santa Clara, and lies roughly 10 km outside the city itself.
The airport has a single physical runway, 08/26, measuring 9,826 feet in length with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS.
The tower callsign is Santa Clara Tower, transmitting on 118.1 MHz.
The airport was previously used as a Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces air base for bomber and fighter aircraft, and it continues to serve as a helicopter squadron base, flying Mi-17 helicopters in the transport role and Mi-24/35 helicopters in the troop support role. On 31 August 2016, JetBlue Flight 387 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida landed at the airport to begin regular commercial flights between Fort Lauderdale and Santa Clara, marking the first commercial flight from the United States to Cuba in 54 years following the thaw in Cuba-United States relations.
The airport continues to handle scheduled and charter international flights, including seasonal service from Air Transat to Halifax, American Airlines to Miami, and WestJet to Montreal-Trudeau, Ottawa and Toronto-Pearson, alongside its ongoing role as a Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces helicopter base.