Air Santo Domingo inaugurated its flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico from Herrera Airport in Santo Domingo. Henry Azar, president of Air Santo Domingo, announced the company expects to compete with airlines flying out of Las Americas Airport because of their lower operational costs. Air Santo Domingo uses smaller airplanes (five LET 410 UP-E Walter model 601, 18-passenger Beechcraft 1900, and Embaer 120 with capacity for 28 passengers). Air Santo Domingo flies to Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Portillo, Arroyo Barril and Barahona airports operating out of Herrera Airport in Santo Domingo. At the present time, Air Santo Domingo is the only airline to fly to San Juan out of Herrera Airport. American Eagle, the American Airlines subsidiary, has requested permission to fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Herrera. Air Santo Domingo was a venture of Dominican investors with Spanish airline Air Europa. The Spaniards pulled out when the governmental efforts lagged in eliminating the Category III status, imposed by the US FAA that impeded Dominican flag airliners to fly to the US. The company was sold to the Grupo Servicios Aereos Profesionales that registered the airline in the US to get around the ban. (27 August 2000)
