Intercontinental Aerea de Cuba

Operator Identification

ca 1950 to ca 1952

Cuba

TYPE: Airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil

HEADQUARTERS: Havana

FORMER NAME: Nil

SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil

Operator History

Intercontinental Aerea de Cuba was a front company founded in the early 1950's by the Israeli commercial mission in New York, with Cuban pilot and businessman Narciso Rosello as President. The reason for its creation was the need by Israel to operate flights to various Arabic countries whose Jewish population was threatened and needed to be evacuated. Israeli aircraft being prohibited to fly over and into these countries, these had to operate under a neutral flag for a bogus airline.

Between 1950 and 1952, Intercontinental Aerea de Cuba operated a fleet of six Commandos and four Douglas DC4s, mainly flown by Cuban pilots. Over that period, they evacuated to Israel 115,000 Jews from Irak, 25,000 from Iran, and hundreds from India and Yemen.

Commando Operations

March 1950* to September 1950*

Six Commandos operated for Intercontinental Aerea de Cuba. Most if not all were former IAF or El Al aircraft, and were returned to their original operator once the evacuations were over.

Commandos Operated

Curtiss C-46A-55-CK Commando: CU-T450