Las Américas International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional Las Américas, or AILA) is an international airport located in Punta Caucedo, near

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

and

Boca Chica Boca Chica is a municipality (''municipio'') of the Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there is one municipal district (''distritos municipal''): La Caleta. As of the 2012 census it had 123,510 inhabitant ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. The airport is run by Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (AERODOM), a private corporation based in the Dominican Republic, under a 25-year concession to build, operate, and transfer (BOT) six of the country's airports. Las Américas usually receives a wide variety of long-, mid-, and short-haul aircraft. Santo Domingo's other airport,

La Isabela La Isabela in Puerto Plata Province, Dominican Republic was the first Spanish town in the Americas. The site is 42 km west of the city of Puerto Plata, adjacent to the village of El Castillo. The area now forms a National Historic Park. ...

, is much smaller and used by light aircraft only. The airport is the second-busiest in the country, after

Punta Cana International Airport Punta Cana International Airport is a privately owned commercial airport in Punta Cana, eastern Dominican Republic. The airport was built with open-air terminals and roofs covered in palm fronds. Grupo Punta Cana built the airport, which was de ...

, and one of the largest in the Caribbean, handling 3.5 million passengers in 2015. It is also the busiest cargo hub in the Caribbean and Central America, with 355,000,000 lbs of cargo transported in 2019.

History

Las Américas Airport opened in 1959 as the official airport of

Ciudad Trujillo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

, the capital of the Dominican Republic with the city subsequently changing its name to

. The official name of the airport was changed in 2002 to "Aeropuerto Internacional Las Américas- José Francisco Peña Gómez (AIJFPG)" but is known as "Las Américas International Airport", or locally, "Las Américas Airport, AILA or "El Aeropuerto". In 1954, U.S. based

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

(which was known as "Delta C&S" at the time following its acquisition and merger with

Chicago and Southern Air Lines Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S) was a United States airline that started life as Pacific Seaboard Air Lines in California and was organized on June 15, 1933. Following the move from California, the airline's headquarters were initially locat ...

) was serving the Dominican Republic on a daily basis via the then-named General Andrews Airport in Ciudad Trujillo with nonstop flights to

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

and

Port au Prince, Haiti Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

operated with

Convair 340 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

twin prop aircraft. The eastbound Delta flights operated a daily routing of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

- Port au Prince - Ciudad Trujillo - San Juan and the westbound Delta flights operated a daily routing of San Juan - Ciudad Trujillo - Port au Prince - Havana - New Orleans. Also during the mid 1950s, U.S. based

Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

(

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

) was serving Ciudad Trujillo with nonstop flights to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and Port au Prince operated with

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with th ...

four engine propliners (which the airline called the "Super-6 Clipper"). In 1960, locally-based

Dominicana de Aviacion The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, the former flag carrier of the Dominican Republic, was operating scheduled international passenger service nonstop between the airport and Miami with

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

four engine propliners and also nonstop between the airport and San Juan, Puerto Rico with

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

and

Curtiss C-46 The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...

twin prop aircraft. By the early and mid 1960s, several airlines were operating international jet service from the airport including

with

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

service nonstop to

, San Juan, Puerto Rico,

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

and Curacao as well as direct, no change of plane 707 service to

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is t ...

and

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

while Brazil-based

VARIG VARIG (acronym for Viação Aérea RIo-Grandense, ''Rio Grandean Airways'') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline, and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went i ...

was operating

Sud Aviation Caravelle The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle is a French jet airliner produced by Sud Aviation. It was developed by SNCASE in the early 1950s and made its maiden flight on 27 May 1955. It included some de Havilland designs and components developed for t ...

and

Convair 990 The Convair 990 Coronado is an American narrow-body four-engined jet airliner produced between 1961 and 1963 by the Convair division of American company General Dynamics. It was a stretched version of its earlier Convair 880 produced in respon ...

jetliner flights nonstop to New York City and Miami as well as direct, no change of plane jet service to Port of Spain, Belem,

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

and

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

. By 1976, the airport was being served by

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

with nonstop

and

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

flights from New York City, Dominicana de Aviacion with nonstop

Boeing 727-100 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter f ...

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpor ...

-399C, Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (leased aircraft) service from New York City, Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico,

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

with nonstop Boeing 727-100 service from San Juan, Puerto Rico as well as direct, no change of plane 727 flights from

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

and Miami,

with nonstop Boeing 707 service from

Port au Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defin ...

as well as direct, one stop 707 service from Miami,

ALM Antillean Airlines ALM Antillean Airlines ( nl, Antilliaanse Luchtvaart Maatschappij) was the main airline of the Netherlands Antilles between its foundation in 1964 and its shut-down in 2001, operating out of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. History ALM Antillean ...

with nonstop and direct one stop

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

service from Curacao,

Viasa Venezolana Internacional de Aviación Sociedad Anónima ( en, JSC Venezuelan International Airways), or VIASA for short, was the Venezuelan flag carrier airline between 1960 and 1997. It was headquartered in the Torre Viasa in Caracas. Launche ...

with nonstop

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...

service from Curacao and direct one stop DC-8 flights from Caracas, and locally-based Aerovias Quisqueyana with nonstop Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 service from Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Also in 1976, Aerovias Quisqueyana was operating nonstop Boeing 707 transatlantic service from the airport to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

with this flight also providing direct one stop service to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight sta ...

(OAG), in 1996 a number of European based airlines were operating transatlantic flights from the airport including

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

with nonstop

service to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana Società per azioni, S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of ...

with nonstop

Boeing 767-300 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

service to

Condor Airlines Condor, legally incorporated as ''Condor Flugdienst GmbH'' and stylized as condor, is a German airline established in 1955 with Frankfurt Airport being its main base. Condor offers scheduled flights to leisure destinations and operates, from Ge ...

with nonstop Boeing 767-300 service to both

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Iberia Airlines Iberia (), legally incorporated as ''Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. Operadora, Sociedad Unipersonal'', is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Founded in 1927 and based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from i ...

with nonstop

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...

service to

LTU International Airways LTU, legally incorporated as ''LTU Lufttransport-Unternehmen GmbH'', was a German leisure airline headquartered in Düsseldorf. It operated medium and long-haul routes and maintained hubs at Düsseldorf Airport, Munich Airport and Berlin Tegel Ai ...

with nonstop

McDonnell Douglas MD-11 The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet wide-body airliner manufactured by American McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing. Following DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 program was launched on December 30, 1986. Assembly of t ...

service to Dusseldorf,

Martinair Martinair (legally ''Martinair Holland N.V.'') is a Dutch cargo airline headquartered and based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and a subsidiary of Air France–KLM. The airline was founded in 1958 by Martin Schröder. Since 2011, Martinair has op ...

with nonstop Boeing 767-300 service to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, and

TAP Air Portugal TAP Air Portugal is the currently state-owned flag carrier airline of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and oper ...

with direct one stop

Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300, the first twin-jet wide-bod ...

service to

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. Airline service from the airport to South America in 1996 included nonstop

flights to Bogota operated by

ACES Colombia ACES (Spanish acronym: ''Aerolíneas Centrales de Colombia'') was an airline with its headquarters in the Torre del Café in Medellín, Colombia and founded on August 30, 1971, by a group of 13 Colombian entrepreneurs, amongst them, most notabl ...

as well as nonstop McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flights to

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

operated by Iberia Airlines in addition to direct, no change of plane

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

flights also to Lima operated by

Copa Airlines Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A., (commonly referred to as Copa and branded simply as "Copa Airlines") is the flag carrier of Panama. It is headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with its main hub at Tocumen International Airport. Copa is ...

via a stop at this air carrier's hub in

Panama City, Panama Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

. Also according to the OAG, other airlines operating flights into the airport in 1996 included

with nonstop

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West G ...

-600R, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 service from

as well as nonstop Airbus A300-600R and

service from

in addition to direct one stop Airbus A300-600R service from both

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started o ...

with nonstop Boeing 727-200 service from

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

(

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

) with nonstop

Boeing 767-200 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

and

Lockheed L-1011 The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comme ...

service from New York City, and locally-based

APA International Air APA International Air, Inc. was an airline based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic that was operational between 1980 and 2001. History The airline was founded in 1980 as a freight charter company, it started operations with a Douglas DC-6 f ...

with nonstop Airbus A300 service from both New York City and Miami. ''Las Américas'' was the hub for

Dominicana de Aviación Compañía Dominicana de Aviación, usually shortened to Dominicana, was an airline based in the Dominican Republic and served as the flag carrier for the country. The airline flew a Boeing 747 for a short time. In the late 1980s, it leased 2 ...

PAWA Dominicana PAWA Dominicana (legally ''Pan Am World Airways Dominicana'') was the international flag carrier of the Dominican Republic. It was created as a subsidiary airline for Pan American Airways. This airline had scheduled flights between Santo Domingo ...

, and a number of other, smaller airlines. Currently SAP Air is based there. Las Américas also has served as a hub for airlines such as

Aeromar Líneas Aéreas Dominicanas Aeromar Líneas Aéreas Dominicanas (also known as Aeromar Airlines) was an airline based in the Dominican Republic. History The airline was founded as Aeromar Cargo in 1962 as an airfreight forwarder and all-cargo carrier. The airline was t ...

, Aero Continente Dominicana and Queen Air. Las Américas International Airport (14688446824)

Recently, the expressway leading from Santo Domingo to the airport (roughly 20 km east of the city center) was expanded and modernised. The airport was also modernised, and two more terminals were added, including 20 more gates. The new expressway crosses a new

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

which spans the

Ozama River The Ozama River () is a river in the Dominican Republic. It rises in the Loma Siete Cabezas mountain in the Sierra de Yamasá mountain range, close to the town of Villa Altagracia. History In 1498, Bartolome Colon had a fort built on the Ozama ...

, connecting traffic into the city's Elevated Freeway and Tunnel system onto the city's main street, Av. 27 de Febrero. A more scenic route following the coastal shore provides beautiful views of the Caribbean Sea and of the city. This secondary road crosses the Ozama River by means of a floating bridge, connecting traffic onto the Av. George Washington (el Malecón) which leads into the heart of the colonial city.

Addition of northern terminal

On 18 April 2007, a new terminal was completed and opened for operations. It can accommodate four

s simultaneously. This new terminal has four gates with boarding bridges, an air-conditioning system, and maintenance facilities for aircraft.

Runway

Las Américas Airport's runway direction is north–south (designated 17–35). This runway is the largest in the country, and one of the largest in the Caribbean. With a length of 3,355 m, it is able to support a

. The runway of SDQ was last renovated in June 2008. The old taxi-way was also renovated and converted into a full runway while the old runway was being renovated, then it was converted back into a taxiway after the normal runway was finished. The runway accommodated the

Antonov An-225 The Antonov An-225 Mriya ( uk, Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, lit=dream' or 'inspiration; NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was ...

to supply goods after the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

Concourses

Las Américas has five gates on the main satellite concourse (A), A2 through A6. Other gate facilities are for the flights departing from a parking in the taxiway. back in the 1960s and 70s the airport used to be much smaller, The original building was half the size of today's newest structure but with a still modern look. Concourse B has four gates (B1 through B4) and remote stand (P8). Terminal B now features a co-branded Copa Club operated jointly by

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

and

, and a Private Lounge exclusive to members and business people. The average number of daily flights in and out of Las Américas ranges between 68 and 84 flights.

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...

is the largest airline operating at Las Américas.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

} , - ! Rank ! City ! Passengers ! Carriers , - , 1 ,

New York - JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...

, 842,272 ,

, - , 2 ,

, 535,633 ,

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

RED Air RED Air S.R.L. is a low-cost leisure airline with facilities in Las Américas International Airport, and main offices in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. History It was founded in 2020 as a joint-venture between the Venezuelan airline LASER A ...

Sky High Aviation Services Sky High Aviation Services is an airline based in Dominican Republic and operates scheduled flights in the Caribbean. Services Sky High Aviation Services operates scheduled and charter operations from the Dominican Republic to different destinat ...

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines Inc. (stylized as spirit) is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. carrier headquartered in Miramar, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin Ameri ...

, - , 3 ,

, 469,710 ,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, - , 4 , Madrid - Barajas , 416,168 ,

Air Europa Air Europa Líneas Aéreas, S.A.U., branded as Air Europa, is the third-largest Spanish airline after Iberia and Vueling. The airline is headquartered in Llucmajor, Mallorca, Spain; it has its main hub at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport w ...

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas S.A. is a Spanish long-haul airline based at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport. History Plus Ultra was founded in 2011 by the former director of now defunct Air Madrid, Julio Miguel Martínez Sola.World2Fly World2Fly is a passenger airline that operates out of Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain. History The airline was established during 2021, after receiving the first of two leased Airbus A350-900. Based out of Palma de Mallo ...

, - , 5 ,

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, 281,696 ,

, - , 6 ,

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

, 179,437 ,

, - , 7 , Panama City - Tocumen , 179,104 ,

, - , 8 ,

, 176,055 ,

, - , 9 ,

, 153,896 ,

, - , 10 ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 101,608 ,

Delta Airlines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along wit ...

, - , 11 ,

, 90,057 ,

Avior Airlines Avior Airlines C.A. (legally ''Aviones de Oriente C.A.'') is an airline based in Barcelona, Anzoátegui, Venezuela. It operates scheduled and charter services within Venezuela and the southern Caribbean out of its main hub at Generál José Anto ...

Conviasa Línea Aérea Conviasa (legally ''Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos'') is a Venezuelan airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela, near Carac ...

LASER Airlines LASER Airlines (legally and officially ''Línea Aérea de Servicio Ejecutivo Regional, C.A.'') is an airline based in Caracas, Venezuela. It operates scheduled and passenger charter services within Venezuela, the Caribbean, and South America. It ...

Venezolana Venezolana - Linea Aérea de Venezuela RAV S.A. (also known as ''Venezolana de Aviación'') is a Venezuelan low-cost airline headquartered in Maracaibo. History The airline was founded by Venezuelan investors in 2001 as ''RAVSA - Rutas Aéreas de ...

, - , 12 ,

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

, 83,347 ,

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A.'', "Airways of the American Continent") is a Colombian airline. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it was initially registered under ...

, Wingo , - , 13 ,

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, 48,399 ,

AeroMéxico Aerovías de México, S.A. de C.V. () operating as Aeroméxico (; stylized as AM), is the flag carrier airline of Mexico, based in Mexico City. It operates scheduled services to more than 90 destinations in Mexico; North, South and Central Ameri ...

, - , 14 , Washington - Dulles , 36,252 ,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, - , 15 , Paris - Charles de Gaulle , 33,547 ,

, - , 16 ,

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, 30,000 ,

, - , 17 , Valencia (VE) , 23,514 ,

Turpial Airlines Turpial Airlines C.A. is a Venezuelan airline that has its hub at Arturo Michelena International Airport in Valencia, Venezuela. This airline has a fleet of 3 Boeing 737-400 authorized to operate regular and non-regular flights of passengers, ca ...

, - , 18 ,

Providenciales Providenciales (known locally as Provo) is an island in the northwest Caicos Islands, part of the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory. The island has an area of and a 2012 Census population of 23,769. Providenciales is the la ...

, 15,651 ,

InterCaribbean Airways InterCaribbean Airways, Ltd. (formerly known as Air Turks & Caicos) is a low-cost airline, based in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory. The airline offers scheduled domestic and regional commercial passenger flight ser ...

, - , 19 , Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe) , 11,757 ,

Air Antilles Air Antilles is a French airline based at Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe, France. It is a regional airline operating scheduled and seasonal services in the French Antilles. History The airline began operations in Decembe ...

Air Caraïbes Air Caraïbes () is a French airline based in the French West Indies, with its headquarters in Les Abymes in Guadeloupe. The airline's main base of operations is at Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe, with a focus city at Mar ...

, - , 20 ,

St. Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the north ...

, 8,746 ,

Accidents and incidents

* On February 15, 1970, a

DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

flying to

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín) is a joint civil-military international airport located in suburban Carolina, Puerto Rico, southeast of San Juan. It is named for Luis Muño ...

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...

, killing all 102 people on board. See the

Dominicana DC-9 air disaster The Dominicana DC-9 air disaster, also known as the Dominicana de Aviación Santo Domingo DC-9 air disaster, was an international flight that suffered a fatal accident on February 15, 1970. The McDonnell Douglas DC-9, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 cr ...

. * On 30 January 1975,

HI-222 of LANSA crashed on take-off, killing one of the 30 people on board. The aircraft was on an international scheduled passenger flight to Mais Gate Airport,

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. * On December 15, 2021 a

Gulfstream IV The Gulfstream IV (or G-IV or GIV) and derivatives are a family of twinjet aircraft, mainly for private or business use. They were designed and built by Gulfstream Aerospace, a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United States, ...

business jet, registered as HI1050, departed Santo Domingo’s La Isabella International Airport, en route to

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, before diverting to Las Americas International airport where the aircraft crashed during an attempted landing. Nine casualties were reported with no survivors. The incident is pending investigation.

References

External links

Aeropuerto Internacional Las Américas-JFPG
{{DEFAULTSORT:Las Americas International Airport Airports in the Dominican Republic Buildings and structures in Santo Domingo Province Airports established in 1959 1959 establishments in North America

History

Addition of northern terminal

Runway

Concourses

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

External links