Airline to offer nonstop flight from T.F. Green Airport to Dominican Republic

WARWICK — T. F. Green Airport will have another try at nonstop flights to the Caribbean this fall, as Sun Country Airlines will begin service to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, airline and airport officials said.

This follows short-lived service to Martinique and Guadeloupe begun in fall 2017 by Norwegian Air Shuttle, which, despite abandoning that route, still flies from Green to Ireland.

Why will service to the Dominican Republic be more successful?

“The flights to the Dominican Republic from this facility will probably always be sold out,” said Joseph J. Solomon, mayor of the airport’s host city of Warwick.

“We have very strong community support,” said Iftikhar Ahmad, chief executive of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, the state agency that runs Green and five smaller state-owned airports. “They asked for it.”

As Jorge Elorza, mayor of Providence, put it: Rhode Island is home to 40,000 Dominicans, the largest Latino group in the state. “This is a big deal,” Elorza said. “This is a very, very big deal.”

Ahmad said of the size of the Dominican population in Rhode Island: “It will be able to support a flight.”

Ahmad also expects Green’s convenient size will attract travelers who might otherwise go to Boston Logan International Airport. He said parking is cheaper and security screening is quicker at Green. And, because Green has limited international service, passing through customs on the way back is quicker, too, he said. “You’re not standing in a long line like they do at Logan. You’re the only flight.”

And $190 fares each way will make Green competitive, he said.

Providence City Council President Sabina Matos, a native of the Dominican Republic, said, “I think it’s going to be very successful.”

Sun Country Airlines spokeswoman Kirsten Wenker said the airline expects a mixture of travelers visiting family — either here or in the Dominican Republic — and those going to the Dominican for vacation. “We should have a good combination of both,” Wenker said.

Service will begin Nov. 16 with one flight a week on Saturdays. On Dec. 25, a second weekly flight will be added on Wednesdays.

Sun Country began service from Green to Nashville and Minneapolis in April, and is scheduled to add service from Green to New Orleans and Las Vegas in September.