Gov't suspends Caribair Dominicana's license

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Aviation officials have suspended the flying license of a small airline based in this Caribbean nation because it has failed to resolve safety concerns over unauthorized charter flights.

Jose Tomas Perez, director of the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute, told reporters Tuesday that Caribair Dominicana has repeatedly violated aviation laws by carrying out charter flights in privately registered planes.

The beleaguered carrier's license was suspended for one year.

"(The carrier has) a record that, lamentably, is untenable for an airline to continue operating and the IDAC has a responsibility to take care of passengers," said Perez, stressing that pilots are prohibited from using a private plane without declaring it as a charter flight.

Rafael Rosado, Caribair's president, said he planned to appeal the suspension.

"All of this has taken us by surprise," said Rosado, who declined to comment further about the complaints against his company.

On it's Web site, the small Dominican airline says it flies regularly scheduled routes to Haiti and Aruba and would also fly charter flights "anywhere the client asks for." Specifics about its small fleet are not listed on the site.

The carrier's suspension came roughly six weeks after an unrelated charter carrying 11 Dominican migrant workers made headlines when it disappeared from radar over the Atlantic. That unauthorized flight departed from the Dominican city of Santiago and filed a flight plan for a landing in Mayaguana Island in the Bahamas.

Dominican aviation authorities are still investigating why the pilot of that charter was allowed to take off with only a U.S. student pilot's license and without declaring the flight as a charter.

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