PAWA Dominicana (legally ''Pan Am World Airways Dominicana, C x A'') was the international

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. It was created as a subsidiary airline for

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

. This airline had scheduled flights between Santo Domingo and other Caribbean and US destinations. It was based at Santo Domingo-Las Americas. Authority for several international routes was suspended on January 28, 2018. As of February 2018, the airline has ceased all of its operations. The airline's failure would be the first test of the nation's new bankruptcy law.

History

PAWA Dominicana was created in 2002 as a subsidiary of

, which had also operated within a strategic alliance with Boston-Maine Airways. In April 2005, Servair, a Dominican corporation dedicated to offering services to airlines in all airports in the

, acquired the airline completely and began a new certification process within the framework of the new Dominican regulations, which allowed the company to operate under local control. In May 2007, the company received the Air Operator Certificate Part 121 from the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC), which allows the airline to operate regular services from the Dominican Republic to North, Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean region and charter services around the world. The first flight took place on October 1, 2007. On June 4, 2010, the company was purchased by a group of airline professionals and they appointed Mrs. Mirtha Espada as the company's president. In February 2012, the airline temporarily ceased scheduled services but continued operating charter services. In March 2012, the company appointed Hector Gomez as president, with the task of reorienting the company and calling back the former company's founder and owner as a part of the organization. The airline secured its air operator certificate in mid-October 2014 and started services using 4

McDonnell Douglas MD-80 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

s and restarted operations on August 14, 2015. On January 26, 2018, PAWA was suspended under the allegation of non-payment, since they owed more than $3 million to the Dominican authorities, among them the Civil Aviation Board, the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, and the Dominican Airport's company, 21st Century. Due to this, the JAC suspended the airline for 90 days and was not allowed to travel, therefore, it generated many complaints from passengers who were stranded in air terminals. On February 2, 2018, a new element was added due to the suspension, and that is the lack of maintenance to the airline's fleet. PAWA's related Venezuelan airline, SBA Airlines, was also suspended by its country's authorities on the same day and for similar reasons in April of the same year. The company closed legally on August 6, 2019, by the authority of the Dominican aviation IDAC.

Operations

PAWA Dominicana authority included international charter services and scheduled services to Antigua, Aruba, Curaçao, Havana, San Juan, and St. Maarten from their Santo Domingo hub with several flights a week on the MD-80 and DC-9. PAWA was working to consolidate flights to New York and Miami (the latter service started in November 2016) and other Caribbean Islands. The company's goal was stated as "to make SDQ the HUB of the Caribbean." PAWA would have planned flights from

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

and

Punta Cana Punta Cana is a resort town in the easternmost region of the Dominican Republic. It was politically incorporated as the "Verón–Punta Cana township" in 2006, and it is subject to the municipality of Higüey (La Altagracia Province). According ...

to Miami, New York, and San Juan.

Destinations

As of January 28, 2018, PAWA Dominicana served the following destinations:

Codeshare agreements

PAWA had

codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

s with the following airlines: *

Aserca Airlines Aserca Airlines C.A. (legally ''Aero Servicios Carabobo C.A.'') was an airline based in Valencia, Carabobo, Valencia, Venezuela. It operated domestic and regional scheduled services to destinations in the Caribbean and Central America. Its main h ...

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

Fleet

Final fleet

PAWA Dominicana McDonnell Douglas MD-83 JP8459571

As of August 2017, the fleet of PAWA Dominicana consisted of the following aircraft:

Former fleet

PAWA Dominicana formerly operated the following types:

References

Junta de Aviación Civil de la República Dominicana (JAC). Instituto Dominicano de Aviación Civil de la República Dominicana (IDAC).

External links

PAWA Dominicana official website (out of order)
{{Airlines of the Dominican Republic Pan Am Defunct airlines of the Dominican Republic Airlines established in 2002 Airlines disestablished in 2018 2003 establishments in the Dominican Republic 2018 disestablishments in the Dominican Republic