A plane with 29 people on board, coming from Puerto Rico, landed in Punta Cana for the first time on April 11, 1984. The date, more than marking the inauguration of the world’s first private commercial airport, marks the beginnings of Punta Cana as a tourist center whose potential, to this day, is a determining factor for the entire Dominican economy.
The establishment of a weekly air route from San Juan with Puerto Rico International Airlines (Prinair) brought more than 2,800 foreigners to the Dominican Republic, arriving through an airport that barely had the logistics to handle 60 passengers at a time.
After four decades of those beginnings, Punta Cana International Airport has accumulated in its history more than 120 million passengers that have entered and left the Dominican Republic through its facilities, and whose logistical capacity will allow it to mobilize up to 5,000 passengers per hour in the following years.
For the president and CEO of Grupo Puntacana, Frank Elías Rainieri, the execution of this task has been perfected over time through technological innovation in airport operations, with a business vision that seeks to satisfy users and raise the quality of service, in line with international standards.
“Today (…), Punta Cana Airport is presented as a model of sustainable development that allows us to take on new investments, keeping us at the forefront and ahead of the growth curve of the tourism sector,” emphasized the businessman yesterday during the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the work.
The executive pointed out the successes of the airport infrastructure, which currently connects with 75 cities in 34 countries, through 58 airlines.
“Because of its connectivity in the Caribbean, we have become the busiest airport in the Dominican Republic, breaking the one million passenger mark in March,” he said at the event, in which the Rainieri family, founders of Grupo Puntacana, was accompanied by President Luis Abinader, the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, and officials and businessmen linked to tourism.
Air arrivals grow
The Punta Cana airport continues to show dynamism in the flow of tourism arrivals.
The Minister of Tourism highlighted the arrival of 7,000 flights in the first quarter of 2024, for a growth of 18% with respect to 2019 – the year prior to the covid-19 pandemic – when some 6,000 flights arrived.
He indicated that the total number of flights received in 2019 was 23,630, while 2023 closed with more than 27,000.
Regarding passenger arrivals, the official indicated that only in the first quarter of 2023 1,600,000 arrived, being 400,000 tourists more than the 1,200,000 that used these facilities in January-March 2023, which shows “a double-digit growth”.
“Our country is in frank growth and is in the best moment of the tourism industry. This is due to this unprecedented public-private alliance that has been created,” he added.
He underscored the role played by the advisory services provided by the private sector through the Tourism Cabinet.
Projection for 2025
The Puntacana Group projects that the expansion of Terminal B, which was formally inaugurated yesterday, will contribute to more than 11 million passengers moving through the airport by 2025.
The improvements to this terminal represent the latest investment to strengthen the airport’s services. It comprises six boarding gates and seven air bridges, in addition to flagship amenities to facilitate the waiting and services demanded by passengers.
“With this investment (…) we will exceed 12 million passengers per year”, highlighted Frank Elías Rainieri, after indicating that the annual average is currently above 9 million.
The increase in the airport’s capacity will make it possible to satisfy the tourism demand in the eastern region, which will have 14,000 new hotel rooms in the coming years.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
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