Hoy newspaper reports that on Friday night President Hipolito Mejia issued a decree to close the Herrera International Airport and turn over the land to several government contractors who are owed money. The move entails a transfer of local air service to the San Isidro Airbase and international flights from Herrera to Las Americas International Airport at Cabo Caucedo. In addition, President Mejia bestowed the much-talked-about airport at El Higuero to the Dominican Air Force. Decree 566-04 says that the Joaquin Balaguer Airport at El Higuero will now house the Air Force?s Air Operations Command and that San Isidro Air Base will be used for mixed operations, permitting civilian and military flights. The decree furthermore calls for the dismantling of the navigation equipment at Herrera and the transfer of all operations to the other two airports following a 15-day period. During the 1996-2000 administration of Leonel Fernandez, the titles to the land where the Herrera airport is located were transferred to the group of engineers who rebuilt the Autopista Duarte in lieu of wages. Last week?s decree also orders the removal of all government offices from Herrera. This would include security, immigration and customs offices, at the very least. The reactions of the various entities that use the Herrera facility were immediate and damning. Omar Chain Lama, the president of the Herrera Airport Business Association, told reporters that the decree is a death knell for all the businesses now operating out of the small airport. Apart from the 15-day allotment to abandon operations at Herrera, the decree does not establish any timeframe for the reorganization of operations nor does it make any recognition of the work done by the various companies there to develop both local and international travel out of Herrera over the last 20 years. These omissions are partly behind the acrimonious feeling toward the decree. Chain Lama said that the association would be meeting soon to solidify its position regarding the move. The centerpiece of the decree, the new airport at El Higuero, was begun by Leonel Fernandez and finished by the Mejia administration and the private firm Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (AERODOM) at an estimated cost of US$30 million.
Construction blunders, however, and the proximity of the Duquesa trash disposal site, which attracts thousands of cattle egrets and other large birds to the area, have made the airport uncertifiable for commercial or international flights. AERODOM spokesman Ellis Perez said that his firm would be able to work out the repayment of their investment to the El Higuero facility, as well as the problems associated with the additional flights that will originate out of the Las Americas International Airport.
Air traffic controllers are certainly not happy over the possible effects of the decree, since the San Isidro aerodrome is only six nautical miles from Las Americas, and international standards generally require ten nautical miles of separation. Bolivar de Leon, the president of the Dominican Air Traffic Controllers Association, told El Caribe reporter Nicanor Leyba that it may well be necessary to handle the two airports as one unit in order to guarantee the safety of all passengers. He predicted some delays as a natural consequence of the new situation.