IFC and Cuban company Aviaimport made the agreement for three An-158s for Cubana de Aviacion with three options in August 2011 during the MAKS 2011 air show. By then, Ilyushin Finance Co. had signed an agreement with Antonov for 20 An-158s (the first 10 were ordered in July 2010 and 10 options firmed up in June 2011 during the previous Le Bourget air show). The contract between IFC and Panama's SAAL was made in July 2012. It stipulates delivery of three An-158s with 12 An-158 and An-148 options for carriers in the Latin America region. Cubana de Aviacion leased its planes for 14 years, and IFC buying them from Antonov and immediately leasing them to SAAL can have the VAT returned to it at once, rather than over more than 14 years.

According to IFC Director General Alexander Rubtsov's statement in Havana, the delivery is under the Russian government's recent Directive 141 On Guarantees of State-Issued Loans that was issued in February 2013. "Directive 141 offers new opportunities to Russian leasing companies in terms of state-granted loans and is an important ground for future deliveries of Russian aircraft of all types to the global market", the IFC chief said.

The An-158 delivered to Cuba is the first production-standard aircraft of the type. The aircraft (c/n 201-01) performed its maiden flight in Kiev on 20 March 2013. Following a brief test programme, it was given the Cuban customer's livery and registration number CU-T1710. The airliner has the single-class configuration for 97 economy-class seats, with its interior supplied by Russian company Rusaviainter. The aircraft was handed over to the customer in a ceremony in Kiev on 18 April, with the acceptance report signed by Antonov President/ Designer General Dmitry Kiva, Ilyushin Finance Co. Director General Alexander Rubtsov and Republic of Cuba Civil Aviation Corporation Vice-President Ricardo Santillan Miranda.

With a mixed Cuban-Ukrainian crew at the controls, the brand-new An-158 set off for long a road from Kiev to Cuba with stopovers in Keflavik, Iceland, and Halifax, Canada, on 21 April. It arrived in Havana on the night of 22 April (23 April in Moscow and Kiev by then) to a red-carpet welcome. 

In May, the first Cuban An-158 started flying scheduled passenger operations from Havana to Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba. With the introduction of two more An-158s to Cubana's fleet planned for this summer, the aircraft of the type also will begin to fly the services to Cancun and Santa Domingo and then, closer to year-end, to foreign destination in the region, e.g. Mexico, Nicaragua, Jamaica, etc.

According to Alexander Rubtsov, the Cuban carrier's three An-158 options are planned to firm up in the near future. The aircraft can be delivered in 2014.

It is worth mentioning that Ilyushin Finance Co. delivered seven Russian-made planes to Cuba, three of them being Ilyushin Il-96-300 wide-bodies (the third one can have its cabin converted to the VIP standard for national leaders), two medium-haul Tupolev Tu-204-100Es and two Tu-204CE freighters (see the table below). During Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Cuba in February 2013, the Cubans said they intended to buy three Il-96-400 wide-body airliners more and two Tu-204SMs in Russia.