Dominicana de Aviacion
Operator Identification
1944 to early 1995
Dominican Republic
TYPE: Airline
IATA/ICAO CODES: DO / DOA
HEADQUARTERS: Las Americas International, Dominican Republic
FORMER NAME: Nil
SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil
Operator History
Dominicana was the national airline of the Dominican Republic, headed by Guillermo Santoni Calero. It was a joint venture between the Dominican government and Pan American, which provided technical support while owning 40% of the airline. At its most prosperous time, between the 1960's and the 1980's, Dominicana operated an extensive domestic network as well as flights throughout the Caribbean, to the Eastern United States, Madrid, Venezuela and Colombia. The government airline started loosing money in the mid-1980's and operations ceased in early 1995.
Commando Operations
1948 to 1974
Following the war, Dominicana was granted a permit by the US CAB to fly chilled beef ton San Juan, PR, with no return load allowed. A meat airlift ensued, as Dominicana operated 70 monthly Commando flights to Puerto Rico and carried over 18 million pounds of beef there between 1948 and 1951.
Dominicana also operated Commandos on domestic passenger routes, as well as to San Juan, PR and Miami, FL. A twice-weekly service to Port-au-Prince, Haiti was also briefly offered between 1955 and early 1957.
Commandos were slowly replaced by DC4s from 1958, and the last one was retired only in 1974.
Last edited: 30/10/2023