Buffalo International Airport Propose New Route To DR

[MiamiDRGuy]

I was at the board meeting yesterday and BNIA officials was trying to pitch airliners to offer new routes to bring more business. One of airline is Spirit, they are proposing a non stop route from Buffalo, NY to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana. They want fly to SDQ 4X a day and PUJ 7 times a day, daily.

if approved, possible in early 2025. They want to lure more Canada tourist to come to Buffalo so they can pay less tax than what Canada charge.

This will be interesting. I'll share the story link when I get them.

 

[Rafaemil]

That is great news! However, 2025? oh well, it will be good, Looking forward to.

 

[NALs]

Is there a market for Buffalo-SD? We all know you will be using that route, but a route needs more than one to work. lol Is there a big Dominican community up there? (Just this week through social media I learn of a Dominican and his wife living in Rochester, NY which is somewhere up there, I think closer to Buffalo than NYC. They own the 809 bar in the same city. So at least there are two up there.)

The PC route probably has better prospects since Dominicans aren’t necessary to make routes to PC work.

 

[AlterEgo]

Is there a market for Buffalo-SD? We all know you will be using that route, but a route needs more than one to work. lol Is there a big Dominican community up there? (Just this week through social media I learn of a Dominican and his wife living in Rochester, NY which is somewhere up there, I think closer to Buffalo than NYC. They own the 809 bar in the same city. So at least there are two up there.)

The PC route probably has better prospects since Dominicans aren’t necessary to make routes to PC work.

I suspect they’re catering to Canadians with this route.

 

[MiamiDRGuy]

Is there a market for Buffalo-SD? We all know you will be using that route, but a route needs more than one to work. lol Is there a big Dominican community up there? (Just this week through social media I learn of a Dominican and his wife living in Rochester, NY which is somewhere up there, I think closer to Buffalo than NYC. They own the 809 bar in the same city. So at least there are two up there.)

The PC route probably has better prospects since Dominicans aren’t necessary to make routes to PC work.

Sunwing used fly this route but now it ended so now Spirit wants to take it over and resume it. When Sunwings ran, every flight was sold out cuz it was full of Canada people. But the problem it ran seasonly, but Spirit wants run year around.

We have pretty large Dominicans/Puerto Rico living here and they are in westside in Buffalo, large spanish community.

About Rochester, there is a Dominican restaurant too, been there and it's alright.

 

[PJT]

Buffalo is a great location to attract Canadian travelers. The other advantage of the oasis location, it will appeal to passenger traffic from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and western NY, especially if flights are direct non-stop.

Regards,

PJT

 

[NanSanPedro]

Just curious, but what is the issue with using Canadian airports?

 

[MiamiDRGuy]

Just curious, but what is the issue with using Canadian airports?

Higher taxes if you fly out from Toronto. In Buffalo, Canadains would pay 45% less in taxes

 

[Taylor]

Could they not just use Hamilton Airport and avoid the border?

 

[playacaribe2]

I was at the board meeting yesterday and BNIA officials was trying to pitch airliners to offer new routes to bring more business. One of airline is Spirit, they are proposing a non stop route from Buffalo, NY to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana. They want fly to SDQ 4X a day and PUJ 7 times a day, daily.

if approved, possible in early 2025. They want to lure more Canada tourist to come to Buffalo so they can pay less tax than what Canada charge.

This will be interesting. I'll share the story link when I get them.

Surely someone is kidding.

7 flights a day to PUJ and 4 to SDQ?

A day.......lol.

Is/does Buffalo even currently have any regularly scheduled international flights. Perhaps they have some charters....but regularly scheduled international flights?

They are not a large airport................not even in the top 50 in the US.

There is a small Dominican community there (Buffalo) and perhaps they will get Canada traffic also.......but certainly not enough to sustain the flight numbers listed above.

Not to mention the logistics for Spirit of trying to keep that amount of aircraft ready for that number of flights.

And........................Buffalo weather........In 2022 Buffalo airport had the most canceled flights of any US airport.

Finally..................Spirit airlines!

Perhaps some day.................but not today or even early 2025........unless Jetblue is allowed to go through with the merger..............and even then.......doubtful.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

 

[NALs]

There is a small Dominican community there (Buffalo) and perhaps they will get Canada traffic also.......but certainly not enough to sustain the flight numbers listed above.

The Dominican community in Buffalo may be small and perhaps not enough to sustain the route, but it might without taking into account the impact of the Canadians.

One could assume that Dominicans in the USA travel to the once a year at best and once every few years, but a significant number actually travel to the DR multiple times a year. They basically have a foot in the USA and another foot in the DR, and often times the "trips" to the DR don't last less thsn a week or a couple of weeks but rather around a month and often times more than one month consecutively. These people travel so much to the DR that is basically normal to hear "él está en Santo Domingo" at any given time and it will have no impact as it's expected that person can be in the DR or in the USA at any given time. If the Dominican community in Buffalo is similar to a Dominican community in the USA, people that travel to the DR multiple times a year shouldn't be that rare.

 

[keepcoming]

IMO the Dominican community in both Buffalo and Rochester combined would not make an impact. Having lived in that area for a number of years, and although there is somewhat of a Dominican "community" in that area, it is very unlikely they would be the target travelers for this route. Maybe Canadian travelers but would it be worth the hassle of coming across for that purpose. I just do not see flights 4x a day to SDQ and PUJ 7x a day as MiamiDRGuy posted. I know of no city that has flights to PUJ 7x a day. To SDQ 4x a day, maybe out of Miami or New York but this will never happen in Buffalo. Friends in Canada have said that it would not be worth them going to Buffalo to travel, in the end they would not save enough money for it to be worth it. I think for this post from the OP to be credible (not the OP just the Spirit story), a link to this is needed.

 

[MiamiDRGuy]

Surely someone is kidding.

7 flights a day to PUJ and 4 to SDQ?

A day.......lol.

Is/does Buffalo even currently have any regularly scheduled international flights. Perhaps they have some charters....but regularly scheduled international flights?

They are not a large airport................not even in the top 50 in the US.

There is a small Dominican community there (Buffalo) and perhaps they will get Canada traffic also.......but certainly not enough to sustain the flight numbers listed above.

Not to mention the logistics for Spirit of trying to keep that amount of aircraft ready for that number of flights.

And........................Buffalo weather........In 2022 Buffalo airport had the most canceled flights of any US airport.

Finally..................Spirit airlines!

Perhaps some day.................but not today or even early 2025........unless Jetblue is allowed to go through with the merger..............and even then.......doubtful.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

I live here and I attend their board meeting frequently and they were talking about that so I just share what I heard at the meeting. I had contacted them to get the documents (PDF) if they have and I'll be glad to share and I am also on advisory committee with NFTA so I know what is happening inside the company. Spirit wants this and BNIA wants international flights so they have been talking about adding more routes. They had remodeled the airport so that would be able to serve bigger planes. Even better, they are rebuilding the entire runway and it will be finish next month. BNIA is growing, yet we are almost to 100 flights daily now. About the flight cancellations, blame that blizzard we had so it's not our fault, smh!

 

[keepcoming]

Here is an interesting comparison, in October you can fly Toronto to PUJ for $353.00 while during the same time period Buffalo to PUJ is $529.00

 

[keepcoming]

I live here and I attend their board meeting frequently and they were talking about that so I just share what I heard at the meeting. I had contacted them to get the documents (PDF) if they have and I'll be glad to share and I am also on advisory committee with NFTA so I know what is happening inside the company. Spirit wants this and BNIA wants international flights so they have been talking about adding more routes. They had remodeled the airport so that would be able to serve bigger planes. Even better, they are rebuilding the entire runway and it will be finish next month. BNIA is growing, yet we are almost to 100 flights daily now. About the flight cancellations, blame that blizzard we had so it's not our fault, smh!

All well and good but there is no way there will ever be 7 flights a day to PUJ out of Buffalo nor 4 flights a day to SDQ. There will never be the market in this area for this. Not this flight frequency.

 

[playacaribe2]

I live here and I attend their board meeting frequently and they were talking about that so I just share what I heard at the meeting. I had contacted them to get the documents (PDF) if they have and I'll be glad to share and I am also on advisory committee with NFTA so I know what is happening inside the company. Spirit wants this and BNIA wants international flights so they have been talking about adding more routes. They had remodeled the airport so that would be able to serve bigger planes. Even better, they are rebuilding the entire runway and it will be finish next month. BNIA is growing, yet we are almost to 100 flights daily now. About the flight cancellations, blame that blizzard we had so it's not our fault, smh!

Well, if they are talking about connecting flights from other airports versus non-stop that may well be possible.

I can hardly even imagine Buffalo with 7 non-stop flights daily to PUJ and 4 to SDQ.

And it really does not matter what causes the cancellations..............only that they are cancelled............and Buffalo weather is notoriously bad in winter with the lake effect snow coming off of Lake Erie........which would coincide with peak tourist season in the DR.

Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

 

[keepcoming]

Is Spirit Airlines operating in Buffalo? I know it is in Rochester but wasn't aware of Spirit flying in/out of Buffalo.

 

[playacaribe2]

Is Spirit Airlines operating in Buffalo? I know it is in Rochester but wasn't aware of Spirit flying in/out of Buffalo.

Not currently. They left several years ago and even then offered limited service.

Best guess is they're seeking to re-enter Buffalo and need to make a big bang to generate interest. The only problem is that the bang is likely to be a dud.

Of note, Rochester does have a growing Dominican population............but is one of the poorer cities in NY.................as is Buffalo with poverty rates above 30%.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

Not currently. They left several years ago and even then offered limited service.

Best guess is they're seeking to re-enter Buffalo and need to make a big bang to generate interest. The only problem is that the bang is likely to be a dud.

Of note, Rochester does have a growing Dominican population............but is one of the poorer cities in NY.................as is Buffalo with poverty rates above 30%.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

I always seem to learn from your posts. Are you a native New Yorker? I especially enjoy your posts related to finance and markets. Thank you.

 

[keepcoming]

Not currently. They left several years ago and even then offered limited service.

Best guess is they're seeking to re-enter Buffalo and need to make a big bang to generate interest. The only problem is that the bang is likely to be a dud.

Of note, Rochester does have a growing Dominican population............but is one of the poorer cities in NY.................as is Buffalo with poverty rates above 30%.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

Years ago, Rochester was different. Kodak was there, etc.. but over the years Rochester (pretty sure I know the Dominican restaurant the OP mentioned) has left much to be desired. While there is/was (when I was there) Dominicans who live in Rochester/Buffalo, I do not see where the travel market would be enough for this. In Rochester there is an area where you will find a small Dominican community as Buffalo. But as far as 7 flights a day to PUJ and 4 flights a day to SDQ, no I do not believe this will ever happen. Now as you said maybe flights that connect with other cities such as Orlando (MCO) or Fort Lauderdale (FLL) but even then, I doubt that.