Do You Know That Julio Iglesias and Oscar de la Renta Own a Thatched-Roof Airport?
This morning, we walked off a flight and into airport paradise. You know we love a good airport with excellent facilities, and nothing could have surprised us more than what we found at Punta Cana Airport (PUJ) in the Dominican Republic. Thatched roofs of cana leaves arch over the baggage claim, Dominican dancers greet arriving flights, and the entire airport is open-air with no air conditioning (huge fans take care of that).
The Punta Cana Airport was only opened in 1984, and since then, passengers traffic to its breezy terminals has risen from some 3,000 per year to over 3,000,000. And—believe it or not—it's a privately owned airport, by the PUNTACANA group, whose chairman is designer Oscar de la Renta. Julio Iglesias also had a huge hand in the deal, but most of the credit goes to PUNTACANA President Frank R. Rainieri, a Dominican who started working on the airport in his 20s, and who obviously has a thing for thatched roofs.
Today, we arrived to PUJ on the inaugural Jetblue flight from New York City, a direct four hours straight down to what is quickly becoming the Caribbean's fastest growing hotspot. We actually named the Dominican Republic as 2009's Destination of the Year; will it be a repeat performance for 2010? With airports like this, it's definitely a possibility.
Full Disclosure: We're in the DR thanks to Jetblue and the Dominican Republic Board of Tourism. But rest assured that we're working more than swimming, and all views expressed here are our own.
Related Stories:
· Jetblue/DailyCandy in Punta Cana [DailyCandy]
· Other travel snapshots [Jaunted]
[Photo: Jaunted]
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