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BiggerIATA urges halt to Bavaro airport plans
Amid plans for the construction of Bavaro International Airport, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) “strongly” urged that the project be halted and further reviewed before further action is taken.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Public Works, Deligne Ascención, the international organization expressed concern regarding that project by arguing that it would be at a distance of 24 kilometers from the Punta Cana International Airport and that the proximity of both terminals would bring with it complex operational and security considerations as a result of multiple runways that will require the use of shared airspace.
He argues that this would require extraordinary coordination and significant resources to operate in such an environment, which would lead to sacrificing efficiency and reducing airspace capacity in the surrounding area.
Through the letter signed by Peter Cerdá, regional vice president in the Americas, and to which el Caribe had access, IATA stressed that the Dominican Republic has eight international airports that adequately cover all the air and tourist transport needs of the country and that with an area of a little more than 48 thousand square kilometers, there is no reasonable justification for the construction of an additional airport.
The entity indicates that it had had the same position in similar cases as when it opposed the construction of an airport in the Riviera Maya in Mexico due to its proximity to Cancun International Airport.
He adds that the same observation he made in Guatemala, where it was shown that a new cargo airport had no operational or commercial justification, and also in similar projects in Panama, Peru, and Ecuador, which, he highlights, have become “white elephants.”
“He argues that this would require extraordinary coordination and significant resources” is a cloaked way of saying the government itself would have to invest millions of US Dollars to build and staff a regional air traffic control center, to include multiple radar locations, to keep aircraft safely separated in the airspace in and around the Punta Cana, Bavaro, and La Romana airspace.
This is politics, not by government but by whoever will lose out if a second airport is built.
It will not be complex to manage flights. It’s not Heathrow for goodness sake. How many flights per day do they expect.
Corruption in DR.
Of course, there are politics involved. However, international air regulatory agencies such as the ICAO, IATA, and the FAA set flight, airport, and air traffic control operational and safety standards to be achieved by countries and their airports to allow air traffic into their areas.. If the standards are not met, the agencies have the ability to advise governments and their agencies to deny route license for air carriers to enter international airspace and/or airports. The politics of this is, if airlines and countries are reluctant to follow advice, the agencies can occasion problems that may painfully affect the economies of the airports and countries.
IATA is an agency having good advice and influence.
I understand that the reason this new airport is being considered is because PUJ is privately owned and the owners are not wanting to make investments in the terminals to make them more efficient and/or user-friendly. Simple things like air conditioning in the terminals and faster processing. Instead, they want to sell “VIP” service to make people already paying hundreds of dollars in airport taxes pay even more if they don’t want to wait in line for hours both on arrival and departure. While I agree with statements regarding concerns over air traffic, something needs to be done to improve the current infrastructure as well…beyond making people pay more for special services. Competition breeds benefits for all parties.