Air Dominicana does not fly

The attempts to get permission to flyto the destinations that were projected by Air Dominicana have failed, and this keeps the plane that was purchased for US$60 million on the ground, stuck since the day it was inaugurated. 

Sources for Diario Libre in the Las Americas International Airport (AILA) explained that the authorities from Turks and Caicos had denied landing permission to the executives of Air Dominicana, and the same happened with Venezuela which was supposed to be the destination of the inaugural flight as a charter flight.. 

According to the information, another of the problems that does not permit the company to get going is a supposed fight amongst the partners that concerns the division of profits that the airline will obtain when it starts operations. 

Air Dominicana has kept its only aircraft-a Boeing 737-800- on the ground after a glamorous inaugural ceremony during the summer. 

Ever since the Air Dominicana project was announced, problems began to arise like the majority of local airline companies that start up and a few months later fold up. Some experts in air travel and airlines said that the acquisition of that aircraft and its cost was not a good way to start a business in that field. 

According to mechanics that work in AILA, the airplane presented some technical problems which do not allow it to fly to the destinations that were cited by the company executives. 

From the very day that the plane was received at the Las Americas terminal, the ship stayed on the east ramp of the terminal and has not moved since. 

Diario Libre learned that a conflict that came up between the former Minister of Tourism, Felix Jimenez, and the other company executives that manage Air Dominicana, has kept operations of the airline stalled. 

What was supposed to be the company’s inaugural flight to Caracas, Venezuela, announced for 12 June, never left the ground, in spite of reassurances to the media that the company could supply the demand  more flights after several other airlines announced reductions in their flights to the Dominican Republic due to fuel costs. 

The Minister of Tourism at that time-Jimenez-announced that from that day forward the plane acquired from Air Europa would be flying to the different destinations. The Dominican government owns 25% of the aircraft. 

The Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC) does not know why the aircraft is stalled on the AILA ramp, and the explained that they have not received any notification by the technicians regarding why the aircraft is not working. 

To the contrary, Pedro Jimenez, the public relations officer of the state institution explained that the aircraft was certified after the required checks by technicians from Civil Aviation who looked at the aircraft. 

The IDAC certified the 737-800 as having the ability and capacity to perform international flights.