Cibao International Airport Aeropuerto Internacional del Cibao
IATA: STI – ICAO: MDST
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		City of Santiago
Operator		Cibao Airport Corporation
Serves		Santiago de los Caballeros
Location		Licey in Santiago Province, Dominican Republic
Hub for		PAWA Dominicana
Elevation AMSL		565 ft / 172 m
Coordinates		19°24′21.93″N 070°36′16.88″W / 19.4060917°N 70.6046889°W / 19.4060917; -70.6046889
Website		Aeropuerto Cibao
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
11/29	8,595	2,620	Asphalt/Concrete
Helipads
Number	Length		Surface
	ft	m
H1	60	16	Asphalt
Statistics (2008)
Aircraft operations			20,700
Passengers			994,883
Based Aircraft			17
Source: Departamento Aeroportuario

Cibao International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional del Cibao) (IATA: STI, ICAO: MDST) is the 3rd international airport in the country, located in Santiago de los Caballeros, the Dominican Republic's second largest city. It has a modern terminal with some of the most advanced airport facilities in the country. It mainly serves Dominicans residing in the United States, Cuba, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Puerto Rico and Panama.

PAWA Dominicana is based at Cibao airport, making it the most important national carrier. JetBlue Airways is the primary international operator, with daily flights to New York City.

Air Turks and Caicos, flag carrier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, designates Santiago as their major international focus city, with more than sixteen flights a week to Providenciales and a seasonal service to Grand Turk. They are also planning to add more destinations such as South Caicos, Haiti and some flights into the Dominican Republic.

Aeromar Líneas Aéreas Dominicanas had their secondary hub in Cibao Airport, where they operated flights to New York City and San Juan, originated from Santiago. Aeromar is no longer in service since 2004.

History

Plans for the construction of the airport were first proposed in 1969. The Cibao International Airport Corporation was created on March 29, 1978 with the cooperation of José Armando Bermúdez (president), Víctor Espaillat, Manuel Arsenio Ureña, Dr. José Augusto Imbert, Mario Cáceres and Ing. Carlos S. Fondeur, who acquired the land necessary to build the new airport.

Full ramps at Cibao Airport in the morning with flight to New York, Newark and Miami in 2003

The construction of the airport began on February 15, 2000 and was finished in 2002. The airport was inaugurated on March 18, 2002 with two direct flights to San Juan operated by American Eagle.

In May 2002 Aeromar Líneas Aéreas Dominicanas made the first direct flight from Santiago to JFK Airport in New York City. Later that month American Airlines and North American Airlines began direct flights to New York, Miami, and San Juan. A few months later Continental Airlines began direct flights from Newark. This was followed by direct service by JetBlue Airways and Delta Air Lines, both from New York. Aeromar became Santiago as it secondary hub, after Las Américas International Airport.

By the end of 2005 the airport's operator began one of the biggest expansions for this airport. They expanded the custom hall and rebuilt the west and east side of the terminal. The terminal saw the addition of a second floor. This expansion was finalized in 2006. In summer 2009 the runway will be expanded by 400m to the west. They are planning the addition of the 400 mts since 2006. In April 2008, Cibao International became the first airport in the country to exonerate fees for private planes, making it possible to increase tourism in the region.

In June, 2008, Continental Airlines announced the discontinuation of their services to Santiago until September 3. Delta Air Lines announced the new service to Atlanta, starting on December 20, 2008, and the resuming of the New York route on December 13, 2008. On September 8, 2009, Delta Air Lines stopped again its services to Atlanta.

On December 21, Pace Airlines started seasonal operations in Cibao Airport, to/from San Juan, Puerto Rico, operating a Boeing 737-200.

On January 9, 2009, Spirit Airlines announced operations to Santiago City from Fort Lauderdale, FL, starting on June 18, 2009. They are operating this route with daily service using Airbus A319 aircraft.

Infrastructure

The Cibao Airport infrastructure consists of the main international terminal, domestic terminal and a cargo terminal. The international terminal is the most utilized and receives most of the flights operating in here and it has modern installations to make easier the check-in, boarding and baggage climb processes.

The airport's owners are planning to expand the runway and the construction of the new taxiway next to the runway by the next year.

Runway and taxiways

Runway 11/29
The runway length is 2,620 m, which can support all types of passenger airliners. The airport's operators are discussing the expansion of the runway to allow larger aircraft such as a Boeing 747 for long haul flights from Europe.

Runway 11/29 is one of the most modern runways in the country; it is provided of an ILS (Instrument Landing System) for the two directions of the runway. Cibao International Airport and Las Américas International Airport are the only two airports in the country equipped with this system.

Taxiways
Cibao International Airport's taxiways are composed by two exits E-1 and E-2; E-1 is located on the west side of Runway 11/29, next to the direction 11 of that runway. E-2 is located in the east side of the runway, next to direction 29 of the runway.

Runway lighting

Flights

In its first year of operation (2002) the airport had five to six daily flights; now, 2009, it has from 25 to 36 daily flights, to the U.S., the Caribbean and Central America. Presently it doesn't offer any direct flights to Europe or Canada yet, however it is expected that it will sometime in the near future, after the runway expansion.

Continental Airlines Boeing 777-200ER at exit E-2 leaving the Main Terminal for a flight to Newark

In 2005 the airport received an Antonov AN-124 of Volga-Dnepr from Spain for military activity along the border with Haiti. It remained in Santiago for two days before returning to Spain.

In 2006, Air Europa, Dominican investors and the government joined a total of $10 million dollars like capital to form a national flag carrier which the country currently lacks. This new airline, Air Dominicana, never became operational, though.

Increased passenger status

Since its inauguration, Cibao International has been projected to become one of most busiest airports in terms of passenger traffic in the country. Presently it has become the third-busiest airport in the Dominican Republic, only being surpassed by the airports of Santo Domingo and Punta Cana.

JetBlue Airways Deparing runway 11.

The airport served more than 1 million passengers in 2007. While the passenger movements is increasing, the traffic operations is increasing as well, adding more frequencies and more new destinations.[1]. In this year the Airport expects to surpass 1 and a half million.

In 2007 JetBlue Airways increased its operations by four flights per day and a charter 3 or 5 days in the season. Relative to 2006, JetBlue increased its movements in Cibao International by two more flights.Search date December 22. This year they will be operating six flights a day in the Santiago–New York route by summer season.

Airport expansion

Cibao Airport Corporation has expanded the international terminal, which now include a new check-in area, an extension of the commercial area with a new cafeteria, a new baggage claim and the reconstruction of a new Duty Free Zone, and the Customs Area is now ready to be used.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

International terminal

The airport's main terminal (international) has six gates (B1-B6). Three of these gates provide boarding docks (B4-B6). It is located between the domestic terminal and the cargo terminal. It has all of the facilities of a modern airport. Future expansion of this airport is being discussed which would include additional gates and baggage handling areas as well as expanding the taxiway. American Airlines was formerly the largest carrier at this airport and JetBlue Airways is the current largest carrier.

Domestic terminal

The airport's domestic terminal, called too as General Aviation hall, has Three gates, (A1 to A3), all without boarding bridges, and it's located next to the international terminal. It is used for domestic flights and charter flights.

PAWA Dominicana has a hub at Cibao International and plans to fly to Port au Prince, Aguadilla and San Juan from the international terminal. From this terminal they serve Santo Domingo on scheduled flights and to Punta Cana on a charter schedule.

Cargo terminal

The airport has a cargo terminal with four gates ( C1 to C4) for cargo carriers such as Amerijet, Cargo Logistic. These cargo carriers have regular flights from Santiago to the United States and other Caribbean islands including Saint Martin and The Bahamas and also to many domestic cargo destinations like Santo Domingo, Costanza and others.

Amerijet is the major cargo carrier at the airport with many flights to Miami, Port-au-Prince, St. Kitts, Santo Domingo, and other neighboring islands. It has regular weekly direct flights to Miami and Santo Domingo and to others destinations only on Sunday.

Cargo carriers

Amerijet departing to MIA

Statistics

2005
In this year, the airport operated up to eight flights a day to the main destinations for people in Santiago, New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport, which was a record for flights from the Dominican Republic to New York. In this route, American Airlines handled more than 450,000 passengers, making it the major increasing of American in Santiago. The airport received up to 600,000 passengers this year.

The Control Tower seen from the Domestic Terminal

2006
In 2006, the airport received more than 15,700 flights from its destinations and with it more than 987,900 passengers. The airport's operator said that every year this airport surpasses the expectations of arrivals and departures of aircraft and passenger movement before every beginning of year operations. In 2007, the activities status surpassed the one million passenger use of this airport and more than 17,000 arrivals and departures.

2007
2007 was a year with a big increased passenger and aircraft movements, with two more new routes and new frequencies for the actual routes, making this year the most productive for Cibao International Airport. The airport has now served to more than 1 million users this year, with an increasing of 460,000 more passengers than 2006.

2008
In 2008 the airport suffered a reduction in regular operations because of the crisis in middle 2008, but it has been growing up again since December of this year. The Airport received 994,883 passengers from New York, Miami, San Juan, Atlanta, Boston and Panamá.

2009
Nowadays the airport is growing up very fast. This year three airlines announced intentions to operate in the airport, one of them, Spirit Airlines, whose started operations from Fort Lauderdale in June. The Airport is planning to finish the runway expansion by this year and they spects the passenger movements surpass again the one million users.

The minimum activity registered in a day in 2006 in this airport was about 14 aircraft and the maximum was about 28 in a day.
The minimum activity registered in a day in 2007 in this airport was about 11 aircraft and the maximum was about 31 in a day.

Incidents and accidents

Although no fatal accidents have occurred at the airport, a few incidents have taken place:

• December 20, 2003, Continental Airlines flight 850 to Newark was departing at its scheduled departure time, 8:30am, and just a few minutes before take-off the crew reported a problem with the aircraft's air-conditioning system. The aircraft had to return from the Runway 11 to the main Terminal for repair of the system. This flight departed 2 hours after scheduled departure, at 10:50am.

• October 31, 2005, American Airlines flight 1774 bound for New York encountered engine problem 45 minutes after takeoff. The flight returned to the airport after the crew smelled smoke in the main cabin and many heard noise emitting from the engines. There were no injuries.

• September 2006, American Airlines flight 2054 was scheduled to depart at 4:11pm to New York, but strong winds caused an object to crash into the window causing it to shatter. The airline postponed the flight until 7:30am the following day.

Continental's Boeing 777-200ER departing to EWR on Runway 11

• October 30, 2007, American Airlines flight 1892 to New York was cancelled due a problem with one of its engines and because of the weather. Passengers waited for other AA's flights the next day because this Airbus A300 could not fly for 2 days. It remained in STI for about 3 days due to repairs by AA's personnel.

The Airbus landed at Cibao International on time as AA1889 and departed three days after as AA9621.

• February 7, 2008, A Caribair flight crashed close to La Romana, when their engines shut down. There were no fatalities, but the pilot had some injuries. The aircraft was a Britten Norman Islander BN-2A, registered as HI-653CA, and departed from this Airport to Punta Cana International Airport via La Romana International Airport at 6 pm. There was a commission to investigate this accident.

• February 9, 2008, American Eagle flight 5031 to San Juan, departed on time from STI but in the middle of the flight had to make an emergency land in Punta Cana International Airport, because one of the main cabin's windows had broken. The plane departed back to SJU two days after it landed in PUJ, as MQ9833.

• March 4, 2008, Delta Air Lines flight 314 to New York, had a problem with a principal cabin's window, that had broken, the flight had to be cancelled, and the plane departed back to JFK the next day in the late afternoon as DL9898.

• December 5, 2008, JetBlue Airways flight 734 to New York, had a problem with the back door. The crew reported a vibration in the door. The airplane had to return to the airport. The Airbus A320 also landed with a high weight level. There were no injures fortunately.

The aircraft departed next day to New York's John F Kennedy Airport as JBU 9002.

• December 18, 2008, American Airlines flight 834 to New York, had to be diverted 10 minutes after take off, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, because the aircraft had a mechanical problem with one engine. The Airbus A300 landed with no problems at SJU, and then the aircraft was changed to continue the flight to New York. No injures were reported.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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