DR1 Daily News - Thursday, 12 June 2008
Tourism action plan
Minister of Tourism Felix Jimenez met with representatives of hotel, travel agent, airport and tour operator companies in Boca Chica yesterday to present his plan to keep the industry going in response to recent announcements of major airline flight cuts. The plan will be presented to President Leonel Fernandez. Among the points covered, as reported in El Caribe, are:
1) Elimination of the ITBIS tax on aviation fuel.
2) Awarding of 5th Freedom to European airlines, that is the right to enplane traffic at one foreign point and deplane it in another foreign point as part of a continuous operation also serving the airline's homeland. This would allow a European airline to touch down in the DR and then carry traffic to Central America, Mexico, the US or the rest of the Caribbean if it wants to.
3) That airports reduce their charges on passengers by 20%.
4) That airports in Punta Cana, Romana and Santiago support Ministry of Tourism promotional campaigns the way Aerodom has been doing (airports in Puerto Plata, Las Americas and Samana).
5) The strengthening of Air Dominicana, an affiliate of Air Europa that has a minority investment by the Dominican government, is also contemplated. The plan is for Air Dominicana to begin serving the US and Puerto Rico by October-November. The airline has already started operations serving Venezuela.
6) A proposal for incentives for at least two European airlines set up their hubs or mother ports at DR airports.
7) Increase advertising campaigns promoting the DR abroad
8) Work to increase travel from lagging markets.
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Air Dominicana to start 16 June
Air Dominicana (AD) has announced the start of daily flights to Caracas, Venezuela as of 16 June. This is the second Dominican airline to start international operations this year. The first was PAWA that began service to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico on 2 June 2008.
AD president, Juan Jose Hidalgo Arena said that the new airline would use a Boeing 737 plane, with capacity for 148 passengers. AD, a mixed enterprise with private (Spanish Air Europa affiliate) and Dominican government capital, was started with a US$10 million investment. A second Boeing 737 is expected to commence service from the DR to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Hidalgo says the airline could also provide charter flight services between Mexico and Santo Domingo.
The announcement comes at a time when the DR has received notifications of flight cancellations form major airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Continental and US Airways, as part of global flight cuts. Jimenez is optimistic the flights would be resumed in the future. Amid all this bad news, Jet Blue has announced that it will increase its flights to the DR. And the Ministry of Tourism also reports that Air France, Iberia, Transaero from Moscow, Russia and Copa from Central America have increased their frequencies to the country, as reported in El Caribe. Likewise, Air Europa will be flying direct from Madrid to Puerto Plata later this year.
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