Air access makes all the difference in the tourism industry, and air traffic to Punta Cana continues to rise. The airport has announced a 5% increase in seat capacity on flights into the east coast airport. PUJ airport has the greatest volume of traffic in the country and is served by the largest number of airlines for a single airport in the Caribbean.
For 2010, 363 additional flights are announced, for a 5.7% growth compared to the 6,378 registered or the high winter season in 2009. Availability of seats into PUJ is increasing by 66,874, or 5.1% more compared to the 1.3 million seats that were available for the 2008-2009 winter season. Some 6,741 flights with 1,371,794 seats have been scheduled.
Cicom press service says that the leading markets are the US and Canada. There will be a 4.3% increase in flights from the US and 7.8% in number of seats, for 4,117 flights and 239,000 seats. American Airlines and US Airways lead in regular flights into the PUJ airport. Delta is in third place.
From Canada, there will be 2,118 flights, up 10.1%, with 406,000 seats (up 9.2%), or 34,000 more seats. Air Transat is the principal carrier, with 125,000 seats, which nevertheless is down 10% compared to last year. Air Canada added 10 flights. Also flying in from Canada are Canjet and Sunwing.
From Latin America, flights are also increasing, up 11.4% going from 514 flights to 573. The number of seats increases 11.8%, going from 79,000 to 89,000. Copa is the leading airline serving the market, with 3,875 seats, up 16%, and 25 additional flights. Starting this winter, Gol from Brazil offers 56 flights and 7,616 seats, Lanperu has 38 flights and 6,384 seats, Principal from Chile with 18 flights and 2,250 seats, and Avianca of Colombia with 47 flights and 7,617 seats.