In an increasingly tight Caribbean aviation market, one carrier is seeing strong growth: Pawa Dominicana, the international flag carrier for the Dominican Republic. The airline is launching its first-ever flights from the US with new service from Miami to Santo Domingo on Nov. 16, and has plans for more network growth. To learn about Pawa, Caribbean Journal caught up with Daniel Castillo, USA Country Manager for the company.
What is Pawa?
Pawa Dominicana is the international flag carrier airline of the Dominican Republic. It was created as a subsidiary airline for Pan American Airways and stands for Pan Am World Airways Dominicana. It is now the first commercial Dominican airline with a regular schedule to be offered in the US in 20+ years.
What makes Pawa different from other carriers?
Pawa Dominicana’s value proposition is to not only be the Dominican Republic flagship airline, but to become the preferred airline throughout the Caribbean. To accomplish this, we are focused on four elements that make the passenger experience – the service given by our crew, the food and beverage during the flight, the baggage policy and competitive prices.
We offer passengers the typical Dominican gastronomic experience with cuisine created by the popular Dominican Chef Ines Paez AKA Chef Tita. Additionally, our beverage offering includes open bar throughout the flight with Dominican alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, so passengers can enjoy a Dominican Rum, beer or our exquisite Dominican coffee. Our new flights start at $323 roundtrip from Santo Domingo-Miami and with each ticket purchase, customers can check one bag of 50 lb. and a 22 lb. carry-on free-of-charge.Also our itinerary is very convenient for the business and tourist passengers. We offer the earliest flight departing from Miami at 5:15 am and arriving Santo Domingo ar 8:45 am, and the latest flight departing from Santo Domingo at 6:30 pm.
Lastly, Pawa Dominicana has achieved an average on-time performance of 93 percent during our first year of operation. We have been qualified by the OAG as the best on-time performance airline for the month of July.
“Our goal is to make Santo Domingo the hub for Caribbean and Latin American travel.”
What does the planned launch of US flights mean for Pawa?
For the last 20+ years, there has not been a commercial Dominican Republic airline available in the US. Our launch will drive tourism to Dominican Republic, particularly in Miami, where there is such a large demand for travel to Dominican Republic.
Additionally, our launch in Miami will increase connectivity to other popular Caribbean destinations. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is very centrally located, making it a great stop for quick connections to a variety of Caribbean locations, like Curacao, St. Maarten, Antigua, Port Au Prince, Aruba, Puerto Rico and Havana. Our goal is to make Santo Domingo the hub for Caribbean and Latin American travel, and our launch in Miami is taking one us step closer to achieving that goal.
Do you plan flights to other Dominican Republic airports in the future? Where?
Yes, Pawa Dominicana plans to offer direct flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico from Punta Cana International Airport. This will be our second Dominican Republic location, the first and primary location being Santo Domingo Las Américas International Airport. Also during next year we have plans to add Santiago de los Caballeros to the portfolio with direct flights to SJU and MIA.
Punta Cana.
Do you plan to operate flights from the US to other Caribbean destinations? Where?
As we mention before our plan Is to build a hub for the Caribbean in Santo Domingo. So, with the start of the Miami-Santo Domingo route, we are creating the opportunity for several connecting flights from Miami to other Pawa destinations. In other words, starting November 16th passengers can travel from Miami to Aruba, Curacao, St Maarten, Antigua, Havana, Port-au-Prince and San Juan with the connection in our hub of Santo Domingo.
Talk about Pawa’s growth in the Caribbean region over the last few years.
We start our operation on august 14th 2015 with the flight from Santo Domingo to Aruba Curacao and St Maarten. Today we flight to 9 destinations. We finished 2015 with 11,284 passengers flown and we are planning to close 2016 with more than 115,000 passengers.
What do you envision as the future for Pawa?
Our goal is to become the absolute leader of air transport in the Caribbean, turning the Dominican Republic into the bridge between the North and South of the American continents, based on quality of service, warmth of its attention and the joy of its employees when assisting their passengers, a source of pride for all Dominicans.
We plan to continue our US expansion and will soon offer flights from New York to Santo Domingo. We strive to continue to offer US travelers the best customer service, excellent cuisine and competitive airfare. We aim to position our beloved capital of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, as a hub for travel, making it easy and affordable for US travelers to explore the Caribbean and experience the beauty that our country has to offer.