PAWA Dominicana
{{Short description|Former airline of Dominican Republic}}
{{Redirect|PAWA|the Australian pickleball organization|Pickleball Association of Western Australia}}
{{Not to be confused with|Dominicana de Aviación}}{{More citations needed|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox airline
|airline = PAWA Dominicana
|image = PAWA Dominicana Logo.png
|image_size = 200
|IATA = 7N
|ICAO = PWD
|callsign = PAWA
|founded = September 30, 2002
|commenced = October 1, 2007
|ceased = February 2, 2018
|hubs = {{nowrap|Las Américas International Airport}}
|secondary_hubs =
|focus_cities =
|frequent_flyer = Preference
|alliance = Aserca Airlines{{cite web|url=https://www.caribbeannewsdigital.com/es/noticia/aserca-airlines-y-pawa-dominicana-conectan-venezuela-y-el-caribe|title=Aserca Airlines y Pawa Dominicana conectan Venezuela y el Caribe|website=Caribbeannewsdigital.com|date=October 12, 2016}}
|subsidiaries =
|fleet_size = 6
|destinations = 8
|parent = Grupo Cóndor C.A.
|headquarters = Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
|key_people = Simeon Garcia (Owner)
Gary Stone (CEO)
Alexander Barrios (Director of Corporate Affairs)
|website = {{URL|pawadominicana.com}} (out of order)
}}
PAWA Dominicana (legally Pan Am World Airways Dominicana, C x A) was the international flag carrier of the Dominican Republic. It was created as a subsidiary airline for Pan American Airways. This airline had scheduled flights between Santo Domingo and other Caribbean and US destinations. It was based at Santo Domingo-Las Americas.{{cite web|url=http://www.ch-aviation.ch/airlinepage.php?code1=PWD|title=PAWA Dominicana hubs and airline details|author=CH-Aviation|publisher=ch-aviation.ch|date=November 21, 2008|accessdate=2009-02-24}}
Authority for several international routes was suspended on January 28, 2018.{{cite news|title=IDAC Threatens Property Embargo On PAWA Dominicana|url=http://curacaochronicle.com/aviation/idac-threatens-property-embargo-on-pawa-dominicana/|accessdate=17 February 2018|work=Curacao Chronicle|date=February 12, 2018}} As of February 2018, the airline has ceased all of its operations. The airline's failure would be the first test of the nation's new bankruptcy law.{{cite news|last1=Jaime M|first1=Señor Fernandez|title=La reestructuración mercantil de PAWA Dominicana|url=https://www.eldinero.com.do/55191/la-reestructuracion-mercantil-de-pawa-dominicana/|accessdate=20 February 2018|work=El Dinero|date=February 15, 2018|language=es}}
History
PAWA Dominicana was created in 2002 as a subsidiary of Pan American Airways, which had also operated within a strategic alliance with Boston-Maine Airways. In April 2005, Servair, a Dominican corporation dedicated to offering services to airlines in all airports in the Dominican Republic, acquired the airline completely and began a new certification process within the framework of the new Dominican regulations, which allowed the company to operate under local control.
In May 2007, the company received the Air Operator Certificate Part 121 from the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC), which allows the airline to operate regular services from the Dominican Republic to North, Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean region and charter services around the world. The first flight took place on October 1, 2007.
On June 4, 2010, the company was purchased by a group of airline professionals and they appointed Mrs. Mirtha Espada as the company's president.
In February 2012, the airline temporarily ceased scheduled services but continued operating charter services. In March 2012, the company appointed Hector Gomez as president, with the task of reorienting the company and calling back the former company's founder and owner as a part of the organization.
The airline secured its air operator certificate in mid-October 2014 and started services using 4 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and restarted operations on August 14, 2015.{{cite web|url=https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/38958-pawa-dominicana-sets-august-14-launch-date|title=PAWA Dominicana sets August 14 launch date|website=Ch-aviation.com|access-date=July 20, 2015}}
On January 26, 2018, PAWA was suspended under the allegation of non-payment, since they owed more than $3 million to the Dominican authorities, among them the Civil Aviation Board, the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, and the Dominican Airport's company, 21st Century. Due to this, the JAC suspended the airline for 90 days and was not allowed to travel, therefore, it generated many complaints from passengers who were stranded in air terminals. On February 2, 2018, a new element was added due to the suspension, and that is the lack of maintenance to the airline's fleet. PAWA's related Venezuelan airline, SBA Airlines, was also suspended by its country's authorities on the same day and for similar reasons in April of the same year. The company closed legally on August 6, 2019, by the authority of the Dominican aviation IDAC.
Operations
PAWA Dominicana authority included international charter services and scheduled services to Antigua, Aruba, Curaçao, Havana, San Juan, and St. Maarten from their Santo Domingo hub with several flights a week on the MD-80 and DC-9.
PAWA was working to consolidate flights to New York and Miami (the latter service started in November 2016) and other Caribbean Islands. The company's goal was stated as "to make SDQ the HUB of the Caribbean." PAWA would have planned flights from Santiago and Punta Cana to Miami, New York, and San Juan.
Destinations
As of January 28, 2018, PAWA Dominicana served the following destinations:{{cite news|title=IDAC Threatens Property Embargo On PAWA Dominicana|url=http://curacaochronicle.com/aviation/idac-threatens-property-embargo-on-pawa-dominicana/|accessdate=17 February 2018|work=Curacao Chronicle|date=February 12, 2018}}
Fleet
=Final fleet=
File:PAWA Dominicana McDonnell Douglas MD-83 JP8459571.jpg approaching Princess Juliana International Airport in 2016]]
As of August 2017, the fleet of PAWA Dominicana consisted of the following aircraft:{{cite journal|title=Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)|journal=Airliner World|issue=October 2017|page=13}}{{cite web|url=https://www.planespotters.net/airline/PAWA-Dominicana|title=PAWA Dominicana Fleet Details and History|website=Planespotters.net|access-date=April 26, 2021}}
=Former fleet=
PAWA Dominicana formerly operated the following types:
| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; text-align:center" |
| Aircraft
!Total !Introduced !Retired !Notes |
|---|
| British Aerospace Jetstream 31
|2 |2005 |2012 | |
| |Cirrus SR-22
|1 |2015 |2016 | |
| McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
|3 |2008 |2017 | |
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Junta de Aviación Civil de la República Dominicana (JAC).
Instituto Dominicano de Aviación Civil de la República Dominicana (IDAC).
External links
{{Commons category|PAWA Dominicana}}
- [http://www.pawad.com.do/ PAWA Dominicana official website (out of order)]
- [https://www.pawadominicana.com]
{{Portalbar|Dominican Republic}}
{{Airlines of the Dominican Republic}}
Category:Defunct airlines of the Dominican Republic
Category:Airlines established in 2002
Category:Airlines disestablished in 2018