Hispaniolan Highlight: Dominicana

Many Latin American nations have long aviation histories thanks to pioneering immigrants and the not always benign influence of Pan Am. The Dominican Republic is one such country, which grew a modern and well run national airline only to see it collapse in on itself as corruption and competition took their toll. Compania Dominicana de Aviacion was founded as early as May 4, 1944, one of a string of airlines within Latin America that Pan Am helped found and held a stake in (40% in this case).

The first services were flown with a pair of Ford Trimotors leased from Cubana. The fleet increased with the addition of ex-military DC-3s and C-46s - the latter starting a one way route between Santo Domingo and San Juan carrying refrigerated meat (the return leg had to be flown empty). It wasn't until 1955 that permission was granted to connect the Dominican capital with Miami - a service that uniquely used C-46s fitted out with one arm bandits (gambling machines) onboard!

Pan Am sold its shares in 1957 at which time the airline became wholly owned by the dictator Rafael Trujillo who had been in power since 1930. Trujillo had improved the nation's standing and had the support of the USA despite running a corrupt iron-fisted dictatorship that undertook assassinations and massacres of civilians. When Trujillo attempted to assassinate the Venezuelan president in 1960 it was too much even for the USA and he lost their support. He was assassinated the next year however the Americans, by then paranoid of communism everywhere, worked against the democratically elected leftist government and de-facto invaded the country in 1965. The next President was another US supported thug (Joaquin Balaguer) who lasted until 1978.  Whilst all this was going on Dominicana was going about its business upgrading to a pair of DC-4s (C-54s) in March 1958 followed by DC-6s in 1962. In 1962 the airline was nationalised.

Dominicana entered the jet age by initially deciding to use a single BAC One-Eleven 400 which was painted into their colours but never delivered. Instead a single DC-9-15 was leased from Douglas in December 1968 which itself was replaced by the carrier's own DC-9-32 a year later. Unfortunately this aircraft's service was short-lived as it crashed on take-off at Santo Domingo on February 15, 1970 killing all 102 onboard. The aircraft was not replaced and it wasn't until June 1971 that another jet joined - this time a Pan Am 707 on lease to operate the new New York service. The 707s (two were leased at different times) lasted only until April 1972 when a secondhand 727-51 was leased. Three further 727-100s joined in the 1970s as well as a single 727-2J1 bought new in May 1975. The 1970s can be seen as the airline's highlight - a time when it had a modern fleet and good levels of service.

From 1978 the Dominican Republic at least managed presidential elections relatively free from trouble, however it was during the 1980s that the national airline's prestige, effectiveness and profitability began to wane substantially. The fleet by then had been added to with a 707-399C registered HI-442 (HI-442CT after 1989). This frame had originally been delivered to Caledonian as G-AVTW in December 1967 and had been sold to TAP by British Caledonian in April 1973. She joined Dominicana in July 1984. The airline's destinations expanded to include Canada and a year later a 747 was leased to operate charters to Europe.

The airline's situation continued to deteriorate in the late 1980s. The 747 was returned in 1987 and the airline struggled to service its own 727 fleet leading to aircraft being leased in in their place. The carrier lurched into the 1990s, however in 1993 a Conair A300 was leased for the vital New York service. The arrangement only lasted for four months though and Dominicana was forced to revert to its 727s which being payload restricted on this route led to lots of left behind baggage. A further loss of faith in the airline in 1994 forced Dominicana to wet-lease aircraft from TAESA, but even this arrangement could not be kept up.

By Christmas 1994 Dominicana was in a sorry state. A promised A300 never turned up and the single 727 couldn't service all three remaining routes leading to chaos at Santo Domingo. A Tristar was repeatedly leased to assist in cleaning up the mess but by 1995 the US authorities imposed such restrictions that the US routes were dropped and in April the government shutdown the airline - temporarily.  This temporary shutdown became permanent and Dominicana never flew again. The airline's sole 707 'Puerto Plata' was abandoned at Santo Domingo and was derelict by 1997. She was still present in 2003 surrounded by long grass and in a sorry state still wearing her red and blue quarters livery (representative of the national flag). She remains a disappointing epitaph for a proud national carrier with a long history.

References

Smith, P.R. 1991. Airline Markings 3: Boeing 707
Magnusson, Michael. 1995. Latin Glory: Airlines of Latin America
Hengi, B I. 2000. Airlines Remembered
Airline Timetable Images: Dominicana
Wikipedia: Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic Forums DR1: The History of Dominicana