For most U.S. travelers who fly overseas, their journeys are made possible by something known as an “Open Skies Aviation Agreement” (Open Skies Agreement) — an international agreement negotiated between the U.S. Department of State and foreign countries that allows more frequent and cheaper commercial flights between the U.S. and the other partner country. These agreements are critical to reunite families, access greater opportunities abroad, close important business deals or simply allow adventure seekers to fulfill their dreams.
While the United States has signed modern Open Skies Agreements with more than 100 foreign partners, the Dominican Republic is not one of them, leaving America’s fourth largest Hispanic group — that is, the 2.4 million Dominican Americans living in the U.S. — with fewer flight options and higher prices on flights booked to and from the D.R.
It’s 2024, and this outdated mode of limited travel needs to change.
Fortunately, we are at a critical juncture where both countries are engaged in negotiations to complete such an agreement. Doing so is crucial for both U.S. and Dominican travelers to enjoy new flight options, lower fares and better service among more airlines in the market.
At their core, Open Skies Agreements are pro-safety, pro-travel and pro-consumer.
Like clockwork, after an Open Skies Agreement is signed, the supply of safe flights to and from a foreign country increases and airfare prices lower, making foreign travel more accessible for everyday U.S. residents. In fact, according to a 2015 study from the Brookings Institution, since their inception in 1992, modern U.S. Open Skies Agreements with foreign nations have generated $4 billion in annual gains to travelers and fostered agreements with 127 other partner nations, resulting in significantly lower airfares to and from island nations like the Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada.
Yet, despite its close cultural and diplomatic relationship, for the past 30 years, U.S. travelers heading to and from the Dominican Republic have not been provided these benefits and have operated on the sole basis of a 1949 U.S.-Dominican Republic Air Transport Agreement. As such, U.S. vacationers and Dominican Americans who wish to visit this beautiful island nation are still forced to deal with limited flight options to and from limited cities — and often at exorbitant prices.
For years, talks for a U.S.-D.R. Open Skies Agreement have stalled — largely based on issues unrelated to consumer safety, including holdups caused by baggage handler monopolies in the D.R. as well as a general lack of prioritization by previous presidential administrations in both nations. Fortunately, this all changed in 2022. Spurred by the efforts of a U.S.-friendly D.R. president, Luis Abinader, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the United States and the D.R. reopened negotiations to complete a U.S.-D.R. Open Skies Agreement. As negotiations between the two nations continue into 2024, it is essential that they act with urgency to promote increased travel and trade, enhance productivity and spur high-quality job opportunities and economic growth.
As the representative of New York’s 13th District that includes Washington Heights, El Barrio, Inwood and the Northwest Bronx, my district accounts for the largest population of Dominican Americans of anywhere in the country, along with a sizeable Puerto Rico and Latino diaspora. Over the past few years, the number of my constituents who have expressed dismay with the limited flight routes and exorbitant prices on travel to the D.R. is too great to count. For them, the current state of affairs has become a crushing bar on any and all plans to visit their family and loved ones on their home island.
To make matters worse, these high prices have proved especially daunting for Dominican families during peak travel seasons, such as the summer and winter holidays, which are often the only times when families with school-age children are able to travel. In fact, for most of 2023, a quick Google search for a round trip ticket from JFK International Airport in New York to the Dominican Republic during the December 2023 holiday season often cost upward of $1,000 to $2,000 per head — regardless of how far in advance travelers attempted to book —preventing families with multiple children from traveling to see their relatives altogether.
But as we start 2024, the U.S. Department of State and the Dominican government have a chance to change this once and for all and extend a long-awaited economic lifeline to working-class families in my district and across the United States. If a modern U.S.-D.R. Open Skies Agreement were finalized today, both U.S. and Dominican travelers would enjoy better service among more airlines in the market and lower fares. Additionally, lower fares to the D.R. may also bring down prices on flights to Puerto Rico and other islands in the Caribbean, with more airlines flying increased routes to and from the region. A completed agreement would also foster economic growth for airline carriers still in need of a post-COVID boon while providing extra revenue for airlines, hotels, restaurants and local service workers in both the U.S. and D.R. Perhaps most importantly, this agreement would send a signal to 2.4 million Dominican Americans that they are valued.
As we enter the new year, I will continue to express my constituents’ strongest support to finalize a modern open skies agreement between the United States and Dominican Republic. Working-class Dominican families across the nation have waited far too long for more affordable flight options, and it is time for us to deliver.
Adriano Espaillat represents New York’s 13th District.