Barahona. – The María Montez International Airport, in Barahona, will become an important enclave of tourism and economic development in the Southwest region with the new initiatives promoted by the Dominican Government, which include the expansion and renovation of that terminal to operate as an air bridge in the initial phase of the tourist launch of Pedernales and as an aeronautical maintenance center of the Boeing company.
Participating as an exhibitor in the first edition of the Expo Tourism and Attractions event “for the Love of Barahona”, the journalist, Luis José Chávez said that after 28 years of its inauguration, the María Montez International Airport will cease to be a white elephant to function as an aeronautical complex with a strong economic impact throughout the region.
Chávez, who represented the general director of the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, Idac, Héctor Porcella, said that the administration of President Luis Abinader has reached an agreement with the company Aeropuertos Dominicanos, Aerodom, to adapt the airport terminal in order to operate as an air bridge with Pedernales to receive tourists who will be arriving at the new hotel projects in Cabo Rojo in the coming months.
“The Government and Aerodom foresee that, during the construction phase of the Cabo Rojo International Airport, which will take 3 to 4 years, the María Montez Airport will be able to receive tourists on international charter flights to be transferred in comfortable buses to the new destination of Pedernales, a journey that should be a pleasant experience due to the multiple attractions offered by the South Coast,” said Chávez.
He indicated that an authorized source from Aerodom has confirmed that the improvement works of the María Montez Airport are already beginning so that by the end of the year the first flights with international tourists can be received for the hotels
of Cabo Rojo.He estimated that with these operations a dynamism will begin that will allow the creation of regular routes for the destination of Barahona itself, to the extent that new tourism projects and public and private investments for the so-called Pearl of the South are developed.
“Regarding the tourist offer of Barahona, we must hope that sooner rather than later the paralyzed hotel and real estate development project Perla del Sur will be redirected, which in addition to expanding the availability of rooms in the area, according to the original proposal, would also include a marina with 42 docks for yachts, boats and boats of various sizes, as well as a convention center,” said Chávez.
Boeing Service Center
After pointing out that the project of the new air base that will be part of the Southern Command of the Air Force of the Dominican Republic, Fard, adjacent to the María Montés airport, formally initiated by President Abinader in September 2023, is already advancing, he said that the third project of importance in aviation in the same complex, it will be the installation of a Boeing aeronautical maintenance center, which contemplates an investment of 200 million dollars in its first ten years.
The investment, managed by the local firm FTS Holding Group, will generate between 1,500 and 2,000 direct jobs in its initial stage, although the number will continue to grow according to its managers, said the director of Public Relations of Idac and past president of the Dominican Association of Tourism Press.
Chávez also referred to the construction of the Granero del Sur airfield, in San Juan de la Maguana, which, in his opinion, will also contribute to strengthening the tourism and productive potential of the southern region.