NewsWhore
02-02-2011, 03:10 PM
Local airline associations in the DR have protested the Air Turks & Caicos announcement of a daily nonstop service from Puerto Plata to San Juan, Puerto Rico starting this April. The Commercial Airline Association (Alarcom), the Dominican Pilots Association (ANP) and the Association of Maintenance Technicians are opposed to the flight on the grounds that it violates fifth freedom rights. These are the rights that allow an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as part of services connecting the airline's own country.
ATC has been authorized by the US government to cover the San Juan-Puerto Plata route, but the local public hearing has not yet been set. Pedro Dominguez, president of the local pilots association, opposes the Civil Aviation Board's current open skies policy. "If nothing is done to end the Open Skies policy, very soon we will not have an aviation industry to call our own," he said.
He said that hundreds of Dominican pilots, mechanics and flight attendants have lost their jobs and several airlines have folded in recent years because of the lack of incentives and protection granted to the local aviation industry by Dominican aviation institutions and government, while facilities are being given to foreign airlines.
According to Martin Maldonado Frometa, secretary of the Dominican Commercial Airline Association and spokesman for Alarcom, the rules of the game are not clear and unfavorable conditions have made it an uphill battle for local airlines in the face of foreign competition.
The official position of the aviation associations is that there needs to be some type of restriction to protect our local aviation industry. In a press release, they explain that existing European Community Open Skies arrangements have seen its latest victim Lithuania, a country comparable to ours in size. Fierce competition and predatory pricing by neighbor state airlines (Air Baltic, Wizz Air and Norwegian Air Shuttle) have led to the demise of this country's last national airline FLYLAL. The policy is certainly unacceptable and needs to be revised or something similar could very well happen in the Dominican Republic very soon.
The aviation associations explain that the Dominican Republic has thirteen local airlines authorized by the IDAC (Instituto Dominicano de Aviacion Civil) and approved by the JAC (Junta de Aviacion Civil Dominicana). At least three of the carriers are currently flying to Puerto Rico on a scheduled or charter-on-demand basis. Most carriers have expressed an interest in working with local hotel organizations, clusters and tourism officials to discuss requirements and opportunities for new and future routes. "Dominican airlines realize the importance of connectivity in the Caribbean region and are well prepared to meet the demands of the main economic activity in the country, the tourism trade", according to Maldonado.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
ATC has been authorized by the US government to cover the San Juan-Puerto Plata route, but the local public hearing has not yet been set. Pedro Dominguez, president of the local pilots association, opposes the Civil Aviation Board's current open skies policy. "If nothing is done to end the Open Skies policy, very soon we will not have an aviation industry to call our own," he said.
He said that hundreds of Dominican pilots, mechanics and flight attendants have lost their jobs and several airlines have folded in recent years because of the lack of incentives and protection granted to the local aviation industry by Dominican aviation institutions and government, while facilities are being given to foreign airlines.
According to Martin Maldonado Frometa, secretary of the Dominican Commercial Airline Association and spokesman for Alarcom, the rules of the game are not clear and unfavorable conditions have made it an uphill battle for local airlines in the face of foreign competition.
The official position of the aviation associations is that there needs to be some type of restriction to protect our local aviation industry. In a press release, they explain that existing European Community Open Skies arrangements have seen its latest victim Lithuania, a country comparable to ours in size. Fierce competition and predatory pricing by neighbor state airlines (Air Baltic, Wizz Air and Norwegian Air Shuttle) have led to the demise of this country's last national airline FLYLAL. The policy is certainly unacceptable and needs to be revised or something similar could very well happen in the Dominican Republic very soon.
The aviation associations explain that the Dominican Republic has thirteen local airlines authorized by the IDAC (Instituto Dominicano de Aviacion Civil) and approved by the JAC (Junta de Aviacion Civil Dominicana). At least three of the carriers are currently flying to Puerto Rico on a scheduled or charter-on-demand basis. Most carriers have expressed an interest in working with local hotel organizations, clusters and tourism officials to discuss requirements and opportunities for new and future routes. "Dominican airlines realize the importance of connectivity in the Caribbean region and are well prepared to meet the demands of the main economic activity in the country, the tourism trade", according to Maldonado.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)