Dominican Republic’s Red Air eyes US charters

Red Air (Santo Domingo Las Américas) has sought US government approval to start passenger charter flights to the United States mainland, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. In its application for exemption authority and a foreign air carrier permit, the Dominican carrier said it would run the ad-hoc flights using Piper (twin piston) PA-23-260 and an MD-81, which it is in the process of adding to its operations specifications. Aside from MD81 HI1041 (msn 53301), Red Air is also trying to induct two other ex-Laser Airlines (QL, Caracas Simón Bolivar) MD-82s, YV3367 (msn 53027) and YV2927 (msn 49924). Dominican government records show the airline is already certificated for passenger charter flights, with its AOC granted in 2013. It is currently in the process of upgrading to Part 121 – Large Aircraft opspecs. Red Air is owned by two Dominican citizens – Hector Gomez (90%) and Giancarlo Hernandez (10%).