Punta Cana International Airport is a privately owned commercial airport in Punta Cana

Punta Cana

Punta Cana is part of the newly created Punta Cana-Bávaro-Veron-Macao municipal district in La Altagracia, the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. The area is best known for its beaches and balnearios, which face both the Caribbean and Atlantic, and it has been a popular tourist...

, eastern Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

. The airport is built in a traditional Dominican style with open-air terminals with their roofs covered in palm fronds. Grupo PuntaCana built the Punta Cana International Airport in 1984. A number of scheduled and charter airlines fly to Punta Cana. Currently, there are more than 4.5 million annual passenger movements in more than 15,000 commercial aircraft operations. The operators of the airport, Grupo Punta Cana, expanded the facility in November 2011 with a new runway and Air Traffic Control tower designed to support the robust growth of travel to the region.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

The airport has three terminals: Terminal 1 is used for international flights, whilst Terminal 3 is used for domestic flights and private jets. In February 2009, the new Terminal 2 was opened. Punta Cana International Airport currently serves as a destination for 53 different airlines.


Notes: Although British Airways

British Airways

British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...

's flight to London-Gatwick stops at Antigua, British Airways has no rights to transport passengers between Punta Cana and Antigua.

Traffic and growth

Punta Cana's airport is the leading point of entry in number of arriving passengers in the Dominican Republic. It is also the fastest growing airport with almost a 20% increase in traffic yearly, which indicates that in less than 5 years the aircraft movements will double. At the moment the airport counts on two international terminals, one VIP, domestics and an FBO, a main incline with 12 positions.

Cancun International Airport

Cancún International Airport

Cancún International Airport is located in Cancún, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It is Mexico's second busiest airport, after Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City, but the biggest in Mexico and Latin America for International passengers...

, Havana International Airport

José Martí International Airport

José Martí International Airport , sometimes known by its former name Rancho-Boyeros Airport, is located southwest of Havana, Cuba, and is a hub for Cubana de Aviación, Aerogaviota and Aero Caribbean, and former Latin American hub for Aeroflot Soviet Airlines...

 and Punta Cana International Airport are the only Caribbean airports with connecting flights to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.

In the Caribbean, Punta Cana International Airport is the third busiest airport, surpassed only by Cancun International Airport

Cancún International Airport

Cancún International Airport is located in Cancún, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It is Mexico's second busiest airport, after Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City, but the biggest in Mexico and Latin America for International passengers...

, in Cancun, Mexico and by Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located in Carolina, Puerto Rico, three miles southeast of San Juan. Over 4 million passengers board a plane at the airport per year according to FAA reports . It is owned and managed by the Puerto Rico Ports...

 in San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

, which are the first and the second busiest airports in the region, respectively.

Airport expansion

Punta Cana's Airport operators completed an ambitious airport expansion project in November 2011. The airport includes a new runway, a control tower equipped with the most modern radio and air traffic control equipment in the Caribbean. Additionally, there is a new Terminal Approach Radar Control (TRACON) facility and a new Automated Weather Observation Station (AWOS). This new facility also provides a back-up to the National Radar System located in Santo Domingo.

U.S. Preclearance

Plans were underway for a U.S. immigration and customs preclearance

United States border preclearance

The United States operates border preclearance facilities at a number of ports and airports in foreign countries. They are staffed and operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. Travelers pass through Immigration and Customs, Public Health, and Department of Agriculture inspections...

station to be opened at the airport by the end of summer 2009, however, as of June 2011 the facility has not opened yet.

External links

• Punta Cana International Airport - Official website
• airport-technology.com provides key data and information