President Hipólito Mejía said he authorized the 29 December condoning of a RD$86 million debt of national airlines. The actual condoning though is pending senatorial approval, though. President Mejía said the domestic airlines were hard hit by the government’s failure to restore their right to fly to the US. The measure sought to avoid the bankruptcy of the airlines. "The situation [inability to fly to the US] was not their fault, nor were they responsible for Dominicana Airlines problems or for the lack of prestige in the market, or for the government having spent millions of dollars and accomplished nothing [referring to the CAB-ICAO project to restore the ability to fly]," President Mejía told reporters when interviewed in San Jose de Ocoa. Several sectors have complained that this is granting a privilege to one sector, while so many other sectors are being penalized by the new taxes created by the government. Meanwhile, the vice president of the Association of National Airlines, Raymundo Polanco said that the sectors that have protested the condoning respond primarily to the interests of foreign corporations that have plotted with aviation authorities to keep the DR airlines from flying to the US. There has been a ban on Dominican airlines flying to the US since 1993.
