SANTO DOMINGO.- The Dominican Republic will be connected to Qatar under a commercial cooperation agreement between the airlines Iberia and Qatar Airways, which will operate flights between Doha and Santo Domingo via Madrid in a codeshare arrangement, the Civil Aviation Board (JAC) reported yesterday, Friday.
The president of the JAC, José Ernesto Marte Piantini, explained in a statement that these operations will be carried out on the Madrid/Santo Domingo/Madrid route, where Iberia will be the effective operator, and Qatar Airways the market operator.
This trade cooperation agreement will increase the flow of passengers to and from Dominican territory within the framework of the agreements signed with Qatar and Spain, he noted.
"Air connectivity in the Dominican Republic has been steadily expanding since August 2020, with the arrival of new international airlines, more routes, increased frequencies, and more seats. These are the reasons why commercial aviation in the country is growing at a sustained pace," the organization's president pointed out.
The members of the JAC plenary also learned of the request from Iberia and American Airlines to jointly operate the Miami/Puerto Plata/Miami, Miami/Santo Domingo/Miami, Miami/Punta Cana/Miami and Miami/Santiago de los Caballeros/Miami routes, in which American Airlines will be the effective operator and Iberia the market operator.
Also, it was learned that Iberia and El Al Israel Airlines had requested the same operating arrangement for the Madrid/Santo Domingo/Madrid route, in which the Spanish airline will be the effective operator and the Israeli airline the market operator.
During the session, the request for amendment to include the Philadelphia/Santo Domingo/Philadelphia route in the operating permit of the low-cost company Frontier was approved. The start of operations in the country is scheduled for December 2023, and will be carried out in Airbus A320 Neo (32N) model aircraft, with 186 seats.
The JAC estimates that this operator will transport an average of 13,017 passengers from December 2023 to December 2024, with a frequency of three flights per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
The National Geographic website states in an article that codesharing is now a common practice in civil aviation, whereby two different airlines offer the same flight with different flight numbers. One operates the flight with its own aircraft and crew, while the other sells some of the seats.
One of the advantages of this mode is that passengers can have access to a wider route network.
