Punta Cana International Airport - Flights To Punta Cana

Punta Cana International Airport (IATA: PUJ, ICAO: MDPC) is a privately owned commercial airport in Punta Cana, eastern Dominican Republic. The airport is built in a traditional Dominican style with open-air terminals with their roofs covered in palm fronds. Grupo PuntaCana built the Punta Cana International Airport and inaugurated it in 1984. It became the first privately owned international airport in the world. A number of scheduled and charter airlines fly to Punta Cana. Currently more than 6.3 million passengers (arrivals and departures combined) pass through the terminals, moved by almost 60,000 commercial aircraft operations. The operators of the airport, Corporación Aeropo rtuaria del Este, S.A. (a private corporation run by Puntacana Resort and Club), expanded the facility in November 2011 with a new runway and Air Traffic Control tower designed to support the robust growth of travel to the region.

In 2014, the airport accounted for 60% of all air arrivals in the Dominican Republic.

Terminals

The airport has five terminals: International Terminals A and B for international passenger travel; FBO Terminal, located west of terminal B, for executive general aviation, both national and international; National Terminal, located east of the FBO terminal, for national charter and general aviation; VIP Terminal, Located east of Terminal A, a private terminal including an aircraft parking apron. Punta Cana International Airport serves 96 cities in 28 countries. Terminal B was built to hold larger aircraft like the Airbus A380 along with 7 airbridges, one being for the Airbus A380. This new terminal was completed in 2014 and can comfortably accommodate 6,500 travelers daily and over 2 million travelers annually.

Airlines and destinations

Traffic and growth

Punta Cana's airport is the leading point of entry in number of arriving passengers in the Dominican Republic. It is also the fastest growing airport with almost a 20% increase in traffic yearly, which indicates that in 4 years the aircraft movements will double. At the moment the airport counts on two International Terminals; FBO Terminal, a main incline with 12 positions; National Terminal; and VIP Terminal.

In the Caribbean, Punta Cana International Airport is the 2nd busiest airport, after Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. Cancun International Airport, Havana International Airport, and Punta Cana International Airport are the only airports in Latin America with direct flights to Russia. Punta Cana International Airport will also be the only airport in the Caribbean with flights to Tel-Aviv, Israel beginning October 7, 2016.

Statistics

Top destinations

Airport expansion

Punta Cana's Airport operators completed an ambitious airport expansion project in November 2011. The airport includes a new runway, a control tower equipped with the most modern radio and air traffic control equipment in the Caribbean. Additionally, there is a new Terminal Approach Radar Control facility and a new Automated Weather Observation Station (AWOS). This new facility also provides a back-up to the National Radar System located in Santo Domingo. A second international terminal opened in 2014 is designed to accommodate 6,500 passengers daily.

It is also planned to open a third terminal and renovate runway 09/27 while also constructing a Cargo Terminal.

U.S. preclearance

Plans were underway for a U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance station to be opened at the airport by the end of summer 2009, however, this has not yet begun. According to Frank Rainieri, president of Grupo Puntacana, negotiations have re-opened (June, 2015) and he anticipates that this airport will be the first in Latin America to offer such preclearance service.

Accidents and incidents

On October 13, 2014, the engine of a Jetstream Bae 32 aircraft belonging to Air Century Airlines caught fire while landing after a charter flight from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The airplane crew declared an emergency and landed the aircraft at 8:45 PM local time, after a 49-minute flight, but the plane was destroyed in a subsequent fire. There were no injuries among the 13 passengers and two crew members on the flight.