Dominican Republic Extends Airport Concession

By Guzmán Ariza, Attorneys at Law

Under the extended concession contract, from 2030 to 2060, the concessionaire will be responsible for financing, operating, maintaining, developing and upgrading the modernization of the airports under concession.

It will also build and operate a new passenger terminal at Santo Domingo airport and continue to implement an environmental action plan, including expansion of solar power plants and deployment of wastewater treatment plant as well as waste sorting centers.

An upfront payment of USD 775 million (USD 300 million immediately and USD 475 million at financial close in H1 2024) will be made to the Dominican state, while the company will also invest USD 830 million in the airports’ infrastructure throughout the concession period, including USD 250 million for the new terminal to be built in Santo Domingo.

Traffic at Dominican airports has grown by 6% per year between 2016 and 2019 and reached, from January to November 2023, +17% of 2019 level for the same period.

The Dominican Republic has also continued to surpass its own record with the arrival of visitors, which in the first quarter of this year reached 3,225.

This was revealed this Monday by the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, who reported that in March  the country received 1,104,770 visitors, 16 percent more than the same month last year, of which  total 836,502 arrived by air and 267,768 by sea.

The arrival of 836,502 tourists by air last month is only comparable to the Christmas season, and that this figure reflects a growth of 13% compared to March of last year, 35% compared to 2022 and 24% compared to 2019.

The countries that contributed the most tourists in the month of March and in the first quarter of this year were the United States with 49%, Canada with 23%, Colombia and Argentina contributed 3%. The airports that received the largest number of tourists were Punta Cana with 61%, Las Américas 21%, Cibao 10%, Puerto Plata 7% and La Romana with 1%.

Such strong tourism and air connectivity from the Dominican Republic was validated with the organization of the III Global Implementation Support Symposium of the International Civil Aviation Organization (Giss), that will take place in Punta Cana from April 30 to May 2, 2024, with the expected participation of 95 countries.

The event aims to highlight the latest digital tools, key initiatives, and collaborative endeavours to support aviation resilience, fostering innovation, promoting sustainable development, and providing operational solutions. 

Interactive panels will center around the overarching theme of “Optimizing Aviation Capacity: Strategies for Safe Skies, Sustainable Future,” and include discussions on pivotal implementation support activities, ranging from the development of modernized airport infrastructures capable of accommodating higher levels of passenger traffic while maintaining stringent safety standards and sustainability objectives, to optimizing air traffic management systems for efficient operations, to nurturing a skilled and adaptable workforce capable of mastering evolving technologies.