Record Flight Passenger Traffic In Dominican Republic As New Routes Added

Last Updated 2 years ago

The Dominican Republic has broken a number of tourism-related records in the past few months. Its airports are also seeing a record-breaking number of international passenger traffic as tourists return to the sunny island. Authorities from the national aviation board say that the country is focusing on an open skies policy which aims to increase the number of flights to and from the Dominican Republic.

Record Flight Passenger Traffic In Dominican Republic As New Routes Added-2

During the first quarter of 2022, the Dominican Republic reached a new milestone when 5,160,661 passengers crossed the border through one of the country’s airports. The number is more than half of all passengers carried in all of 2021, according to the civil aviation board.

“After twenty hard months of work together with national and international airlines, as well as airports and other partners, our country saw over 17 million airline passengers between August 2020 and April 2022”, according to José Ernesto Marte Piantini, president of the civil aviation board. The ongoing expansion of Punta Cana International Airport – at a cost of over $200 million U.S dollars – will also help boost the area’s popularity and international connectivity.

With an increasing number of airlines looking to open up new routes to the Dominican Republic, more tourists are expected to visit the island. The government, which has implemented an open skies policy, wants to make the country more competitive for international carriers.

After announcing the record-breaking number of airline passenger traffic, aviation authorities also said that they are in the last stages of approving a number of new routes to the country, including Frontier’s Tampa-Santo Domingo and Tampa-Punta Cana routes. Frontier Airlines is one of the latest carriers to announce new flights to the country this summer.

Currently, the airline is authorized to fly 29 routes between the United States and the Dominican Republic. Its newest flights are set to launch this June on the Airbus A320 neo, with a maximum capacity of 186 passengers. The airline announced that the new routes would have a frequency of two flights per week, Thursdays and Sundays from Tampa to Santo Domingo. Meanwhile, the Tampa – Punta Cana route, also set to begin operations in June, will see one flight per week on Saturdays.

Frontier Airlines estimates that it will carry up to 10,230 passengers on the Tampa – Santo Domingo route between June and December 2022, and around 2500 passengers on the Punta Cana route.

The airline industry is an integral part of the Dominican government’s strategy. It is essential for making the island one of the top destinations for U.S travelers. Allianz, a major international insurance company, recently revealed that Punta Cana is the fifth most popular international destination for U.S tourists this summer. The area is home to some of the world’s leading resort hotels, sunny tropical beaches, and endless entertainment options.

Other airlines are also announcing new flights. Passengers flying on British Airways will be happy to know that the civil aviation board approved the new route from London to Punta Cana later this year. Moreover, World 2 Fly will be connecting Madrid with Punta Cana.

Puerto Plata Airport Reopens

JetBlue flight 627 from New York to Puerto Plata was the first international flight to land at Gregorio Luperón International Airport after it had been closed temporarily for renovations. The airport’s runway was repaired over a 10-day period until opening again this Friday. With an investment of around 5 million dollars, the airport will be able to handle more aircraft traffic and welcome more passengers.