by Brian Major
Last updated: 10:20 AM ET, Tue August 6, 2024
Lower airfares and increased availability to the Caribbean
nation will result from the Open Skies agreement signed this week between the
Dominican Republic and the United States, said U.S. and Dominican Republic officials.
Formalized in an August 4 ceremony at the Dominican Republic
National Palace in Santo Domingo, U.S. under secretary of state Jose W.
Fernandez and David Collado, the Dominican Republic’s tourism minister signed
the agreement to “bring the civil aviation transportation relationship between
the United States and the Dominican Republic to the highest modern standard,”
according to the U.S. State Department.
The agreement will be finalized following “an exchange of
diplomatic notes confirming that all necessary internal procedures for entry
into force of the Agreement have been completed,” said officials.
Once in operation, the agreement will deliver assistance
including “unrestricted capacity and frequency of services for both passenger
and all-cargo carriers, open route rights, an open charter regime,
self-handling provisions and open code-sharing opportunities,” said State
Department officials.
“Air carriers will be able to provide more affordable,
convenient and efficient air services to travelers and shippers, promoting
tourism and commerce,” said the State Department. “The agreement will also
commit both governments to high standards of aviation safety and security."
“It’s a blueprint, an agreement that is going to save
passengers money,” said Adriano Espaillat, a U.S. Congressman (D-NY) and the first Dominican-American
and first formerly undocumented immigrant to serve in Congress.
Espaillat delivered his remarks while attending the ceremony.
“This consumer-friendly agreement will provide more flight options between the
United States and the Dominican Republic, reduce airfares, increase travel and
trade,” he said in a Dominican Today report.
The agreement is part of the Dominican Republic’s strategy
to establish the country as a “regional air connectivity hub,” under Luis
Abinader, the country’s president, said Dominican government officials.
Average fares are 32 percent lower on routes subject to Open Skies agreements, according to data from the U.S. Travel Association. The federal government has Open Skies agreements with more than 130 partners, governing 70 percent of international departures from the United States, according to the State Department.
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