Dominicana de Aviacion was the national and international airline of the Dominican Republic.

Dominicana Boeing 727 in storage at Tucson, Arizona, in April 1993

History

Dominicana started in 1944, as the national airline of the Dominican Republic. The necessity for a national airline arose initially from the large number of Dominican citizens who emigrated to places like New York, Miami, San Juan and Madrid. Dominicana then used such airplanes as the DC-3 and DC-6 for their routes. In January 11 of 1948, one of their DC-3's crashed in Santo Domingo, killing 28 people.

The 1950s saw domestic expansion, and the airline began flying heavily between Santo Domingo and other Dominican cities, such as Puerto Plata , La Romana , Punta Cana and Santiago De Los Caballeros . The 1950's also saw the addition of Curtiss C-46 and ATL-98 Carvair planes to their fleet.

When the 1960s arrived, so did jets for Dominicana. The airline used the DC-8 for their longer flights, such as to JFK International Airport in New York. They also bought Boeing 727s and DC-9s during that era.

The 1970s started with a tragedy for Dominicana, when a DC-9 flying to Puerto Rico crashed into a beach near Santo Domingo, after the pilots of the plane had been granted emergency landing clearance by Las Americas International Airport's control tower. One hundred and two people lost their lives, including world boxing champion Carlos Cruz, his wife and 18-month child, and some members of the Puerto Rican women's national volleyball team (see: Dominicana DC-9 air disaster). The 1970s saw the addition of Boeing 747 jets for a brief time, used for flights to Barajas International Airport in Madrid.

During the early 1980s, Dominicana added daily flights to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, using 727's. They also expanded around the Caribbean and to points in South America such as Caracas, Bogotá and Quito as well as to points in Central America. By 1987, the airline's economic situation started to suffer and routes began to be reduced, including the vital route to San Juan.

By 1990, their situation was critical, and in 1995, the airline only had three airplanes, all 727's, left. They also only had one route left, to Miami International Airport. Due to the severe economic crisis the airline was facing, it was decided to close down the airline that year. In 1997, airline APA Internacional tried to revive the Dominicana legacy by becoming APA Dominicana Internacional, but this airline was short lived. Dominicana De Aviacions livery consisted of a metallic silver fuselage (although some of their planes had an all white fuselage), with red and blue cheatlines, representing the color of the Dominican flag, that went back to the tail. The tail logo was two large blue and two large red blocks, similar to the blocks seen on the Dominican flag. The name Dominicana was written in black letters on top of the passenger windows.

Nowadays

There are no known attempts to revive Dominicana, but the Dominican Republic's government has left the prospect of reviving it in the future as a possibility.

Destinations

• Many Domestic destinations
• Miami, Florida
• New York, New York
• Many places around the Caribbean
• Caracas, Venezuela
• Bogotá, Colombia
• Quito, Ecuador
• Panama City, Panama
• Madrid, Spain

Copyright note

Photo copyrighted, and courtesy of, Mr. Frank Schaefer.

External link

Schaefers Airliners.net page, as requested by Mr. Schaefer