29/12/2009 16:36:33
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.
