Santiago Municipal Airport was a both passenger and military airport located in the Center of

Santiago de los Caballeros Santiago de los Caballeros (; '' en, James, son of Zebedee, Saint James of the Knights''), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the cap ...

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 ...

. This airport served this city with daily flights to

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), ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

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 ...

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

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 others. It was the major hub of Dominair, who had based two Dash 8 here. It was also used as a secondary hub by the

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History

This airport was built in the 1930s, during Trujillo's government, with the major purpose of stimulating the city's growth. The operations were focused on passenger movements between San Juan and Santiago, and also cargo operations to San Juan, Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince. Before ceasing operations,

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 ...

became the first airline to connect Santiago with the United States, starting operations between Santiago and Miami, in McDonnell Douglas DC-6 aircraft in the 1970s. In the 1990s, another Dominican airline, Dominair, started operations in the airport, with two daily flights to San Juan. They added flights to Port-au-Prince three years later. In 1998 the airport had its biggest expansion ever. They enlarged the runway to support operation of the American Eagle's ATR aircraft. The airport remained closed for at least eight months. In 1999

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

started, for the first time, operations in Santiago, adding two daily flights to San Juan, making Dominair to leave the route. In 2002 the airport closed its doors to the public due to the inauguration of a bigger airport,

Cibao International Airport Cibao International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional del Cibao, links=no) , also known as Santiago Airport, is located in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic's second-largest city. It is the country's third-busiest airport by pas ...

, located 15 minutes away from the city center. This new airport allowed jet-passenger aircraft operations and could receive flights from New York, Miami and San Juan, which Santiago Municipal Airport could not handle. On March 18, 2002, the two American Eagle flights to San Juan were transferred to the new Cibao International Airport, ceasing passenger operations in Santiago Municipal Airport. A Year later the Santiago Air Base became unnecessary for the FAD, and a cost that they could not handle by themselves, so they moved all operations to the Puerto Plata Air Base (located in Gregorio Luperon International Airport). Santiago Municipal was now completely closed, with no operations at all. Santiago Municipal Airport is now known as Cibao Center National Police, north command of operations for the National Police.

Former airlines and destinations

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 ...

(San Juan) *

(Miami, Santo Domingo) * Dominair (Port-au-Prince, San Juan, Santo Domingo)

Dominican Air Force operations

Santiago Municipal Airport was the secondary hub for the

Dominican Air Force The Air Force of the Dominican Republic ( es, Fuerza Aérea de República Dominicana), is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic, together with the Army and the Navy. History At the end of the United States ...

. They had at least 30% of their operations in this airport. They also had their own ramp and terminal, located behind the hangars of the Civil Aviation, next to the control tower. All the military operations to the northwest of the country were originated from Santiago Municipal, which people also referred to as Santiago Air Base, pointing the Military Terminal.

Post-closure

The Central Park of Santiago is projected to be constructed on the land of the now defunct old Santiago Municipal Airport that now lodges the regional seat of the National Police and the offices of the Association for Development. The industrialists of Santiago have defended the project since it is considered to be a solution to the lack of green spaces suitable for relaxation in the city. Nevertheless, it has been argued that the granting of contracts for the different phases from this project violate the frame of transparency and legality. In the Strategic Plan of Santiago it is indicated that the construction of the Metropolitan Park would increase the Santiagos green area from its current 1.1% to 4%. While the old military side of the airport is now used for the National Police, the old passenger terminal side is now used as a racetrack.

External links

FAD3069 Bell 205Bell 205FAD3069Santiago Municipal Airport
{{authority control Defunct airports Airports in the Dominican Republic