PAWA Dominicana (Santo Domingo Las Américas) was awarded its Air Services Licence (ASL) by the Dominican Republic's national aeronautical watchdog (Instituto Dominicano de Aviación Civil - IDAC) last week wherein it was designated the country's flag carrier.
An airline designated a flag carrier enjoys preferential rights and/or privileges accorded by the government for international operations, traffic rights in particular. The last Dominican operator to enjoy that status was the now defunct Air Dominicana (Santo Domingo Las Américas).
Having secured its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) in October last year, PAWA's Director of Corporate Affairs, Alexander Barrios, told the Arecoa news site that the start-up was now awaiting the Dominican Republic's civil aviation authority (Junta de Aviación Civil de la República Dominicana - JAC) to formally issue it with a Certificate of Economic Authority which would allow it to begin negotiations with civil aviation authorities in other countries. All in all, the carrier could begin flights in roughly 45 days time.
"We have a business plan covering the next five years in which we will cover the most important destinations in the Caribbean," he said. "By that I mean the main islands starting with Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin and Havana International initially; and in the second phase, after the first six months, we will be coming to Miami International and New York JFK."
The start-up currently has eight aircraft on its books including three DC-9-30s, one MD-82, two MD-83s, and two MD-87s. Early on in its developmental stage, PAWA had planned to acquire twenty ex-Delta Air Lines DC-9-50s though this was later abandoned after the type's operating costs rendered it uneconomical.
