Air Dominicana Begins Preliminary Santo Domingo-Santiago Routes

Air Dominicana Begins Preliminary Santo Domingo-Santiago Routes

The first Air Dominicana flight landed last night at 8:15 p.m. at the International Airport of the Americas (AILA). Beginning at midday on Friday it will begin test flights between Santo Domingo and Santiago.

“This is the final phase before obtaining the Civil Aviation license, the company’s operational license…”

The Boeing 737-000 had taken off from Tenerife Spain, made stop-overs in Cape Verde then Fortaleza, Brazil to change crews and refuel, according to a press release from the Office of Press and Communication in the Ministry of Tourism.

The plane, after technical evaluation, was certified by two inspectors of the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC) who remained on board throughout the flight from Tenerife, Cape Verde and Fortaleza, Brazil to Santo Domingo, the last leg of which was 5 hours.

Jesús Revilla, International Director of Operations for Air Dominicana, explained that training and test flights will continue Friday and next Monday between Santo Domingo a Santiago.

A total of 50 hours of test flights are required for an air plane to be approved for operations; Air Dominicana has completed 20. The remaining 30 hours will be completed in test flights over Dominican airspace.

“This is the final phase before obtaining the Civil Aviation license, the company’s operational license; the flights are empty except for the crew and Civil Aviation inspectors. After this phase is complete, commercial flights will begin,” said Mr. Revilla.

The first flight over Dominican territory was originally scheduled for last Friday, May 2. However, due to technical difficulties involving the door frame of the access door caused the postponement.

“The entire flight was normal, operations normal, everything went off without a hitch. The crew took care of maintenance, security and operations with total professionalism,”

Revilla explained that the repairs were made in Tenerife, base of operations of Futura, the Spanish company providing technical support to Air Dominicana. The plane arrived in the DR after a 2-month revision period was completed in France under a maintenance company certified by international organizations such as the IASA.

“The entire flight was normal, operations normal, everything went off without a hitch. The crew took care of maintenance, security and operations with total professionalism,” said Pedro Torres Medina, an inspector for IDAC.

Captain José Tobar, Chief Pilot of the all-Dominican crew, was in charge of the first landing of Air Dominicana in Dominican territory.