Queen Air is the newest alternative for flying to the United States, Europe and South America. The new airline will begin flying on the Santo Domingo-New York-Santo Domingo starting 1 December. Queen Air will be using an Airbus A-320 with capacity for 170 passengers. Emely Tours entrepreneurs, Julio Rosario and Emilia Pichardo hosted a reception at the Santo Domingo Country Club to promote the airline. Queen Air has 18% of the flight contracted by a tour operator that brings tourists staying at Allegro Resorts hotels. Queen Air will be operating closely with Transmeridian of the United States, since Dominican airlines have not yet received authorization to fly to the US by the FAA. The airline has invested US$3 million in the launching stage, and will be investing US$10 million in the first year of operations. During the event held to announce the airline at the Santo Domingo Country Club, Julio Rosario explained why he believes the new airline will be a success. During the period 1991-1997, while the flow of travelers to the Dominican Republic increased 15%, ethnic travel grew only 3%. Tourists traveling to the DR increased 23%. Rosario concludes that in the tourist trade is where the business is. In his opinion, while those traveling to the DR to visit family and friends will continue to grow slowly, the principal source of passengers will come from those traveling to the DR for leisure purposes. Thus Queen Air is targeting the tourist market, and will seek to serve non-traditional markets where the major airlines do not dominate. The airline has requested and obtained authorization to fly to New York, Miami, San Juan and Caracas, traditional routes, but they feel a good part of their business will be serving routes in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo (Brazil), Santiago de Chile, Spain and Italy. The airline’s first airplane will arrive 28 November and will be used for short routes. The airline will have two other wide cabin airplanes for intercontinental flights and charters to Europe and South America.
