Dominican Republic Signs Memo of Understanding with German Company GAE to Open First Nacional Airline

Dominican tourism minister Felix Jiménez revealed this week in Madrid that President Leonel Fernandez has inked a memorandum of understanding with Germany-based aeronautics consortium GAE (Global Aviation Enabling) in a bid to create a national carrier under the name of Dominican Airlines, due out in 2006.

GAE president and CEO Andreas Denecker said the mission of transporting passengers to the Dominican Republic in a safe and comfy “helps put the Dominican Republic on the map as a great travel destination. In addition, this new airline will create new jobs for the Dominican people.”

Furthermore, Dominican Airlines will come together as a lucrative commercial partnership, with GAE holding the largest chunk of stocks, the Dominican government keeping 15 percent of stakes, and various companies holding on to the remaining 34 percent of shares.

Sources close to the negotiations said that GAE has set up a strategic alliance witl Lufthansa –by far one of the new project’s top shareholders- in an effort to guarantee the success of the Dominican air carrier.