Dominican Republic, among the most competitive countries in air transport

The Dominican Republic stands out among the most competitive countries in air transport in the region, according to the Air Transport Competitiveness Index in Latin America and the Caribbean 2022.

The Competitiveness Index identifies and analyzes the conditions and factors that influence the development and competitiveness of the industry, as highlighted by the president of the Civil Aviation Board (JAC) of the Dominican Republic, José Ernesto Marte Piantini.

“This Wednesday the 7th we celebrate International Civil Aviation Day and it finds us occupying the number 8 position in the ranking of the best connected countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, consolidating our leadership in the region; This, added to the fact that since September we have exceeded the flow of passengers transported in 2019, positioning the country as an international benchmark in air connectivity”, declared the president of the JAC.

The official reported that the country is among the top 10 places along with Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Guatemala, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil and Panama, as the nations that stand out in terms of Air Transport Competitiveness.

The report

The report prepared and presented by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) and Amadeus, a provider of technological solutions for the travel industry, considers 10 variables that measure different aspects that affect aviation: taxes, rates and contributions, market potential, connectivity, fuels and quality of airport services, opening of COVID measures, market accessibility, airport quality, airport costs, overflight costs, and governance of aeronautical authorities.

Each of these variables has a score from 1 to 5. Note 1 is the lowest or shows less competitiveness, and 5 is the most positive evaluation or the highest competence.

In the study, the Dominican Republic is in eighth place with a score of 2.90 considered as average. No Latin American country exceeds 4.00 points, which shows that there are challenges for the region.

The variables in which the Dominican Republic is more competitive are openness of the countries and governance of the aeronautical authority, both with a score of 4.55 and 3.83 respectively.

Entering the Dominican Republic is easy due to the absence of restrictions that facilitate the flow of international human trafficking. Similarly, it has one of the best qualified civil aviation authorities.

The three most competitive countries are Mexico, Brazil, and Panama, with scores of 3.69, 3.43, and 3.42, respectively. Also noteworthy in fourth and fifth place are Costa Rica with 3.28 and Colombia with 3.24. The least competitive countries in the region are in the Caribbean, highlighting the case of Haiti with 2.51, Barbados (2.53) and Jamaica (2.64).

Marte Piantini emphasized that "we are promoting a liberalized air trade policy to further strengthen our air connectivity with traditional and non-traditional destinations."

“The Open Skies policy carried out by the country through the Civil Aviation Board has not only managed to promote connectivity directly by establishing new air routes, but has also managed to promote the development of other sectors such as tourism, the commerce, and a greater generation of jobs”, he said.

Commercial Aviation in the DR

The president of the Civil Aviation Board considered that there is no better way to commemorate this International Civil Aviation Day than by sharing the achievements that our country exhibits in this matter.

“We have achieved a more consolidated and consolidated sector throughout these two years of management, with 222,571 air operations carried out, 62 new routes, with the presence of 533 airlines, 24 commercial cooperation agreements approved between airlines of different nationalities, 26,545,652 mobilized passengers and estimated direct and indirect income for our country of USD 24,532 million”, he explained.

Marte Piantini also reported that in March of this year "we showed firm steps towards the integration of regional air transport, when the Dominican Republic was elected to the Second Vice Presidency of the Executive Committee of the Latin American Civil Aviation Commission (CLAC) for the period 2022- 2024”.

The public servant recalled that this year the country definitively signed 5 Air Agreements and Memorandums of Understanding with Spain, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala and the State of Qatar. He added that the JAC is currently proactively negotiating air service instruments with more than 20 countries, including: Canada, Brazil, Cuba, Switzerland, Argentina, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Iceland, Saudi Arabia, and much others.