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.
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. The runway 400 meters expansion is currently in folders, but there is no scheduled date to begin or conclude this expansion yet.
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 January 9, 2009, Spirit Airlines announced operations to Santiago City from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, starting on June 21, 2009. They are operating this route using Airbus A319 aircraft.
In 2010 the airport recovered passengers movement from last year, handling more than 900 thousand. It also became the third busiest airport by passengers in the country, been already ranked number three in aircraft operations. In this year were established also regular domestics routes from Santiago operated by Aerolineas Mas, Air Century and VolAir. Aerolineas Mas became the strongest domestic airline in the airport and started operating Santiago's Airport as a Focus City-Destination.
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