Dorado Airport | |||||||||||
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Location | Dorado, Puerto Rico | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 18°27′52″N066°17′33″W / 18.46444°N 66.29250°W | ||||||||||
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Runways | |||||||||||
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Dorado Airport or Dorado Beach Airport( IATA : DDP) [1] was a small single runway airport in Dorado, Puerto Rico.
Clara Livingston, the owner of the property at the time, ordered the strip be built, and her friend, Amelia Earhart, may have used the facility as well. [4] Later on, the United States military, during World War II, paved the runway. [3]
Much later on, a large airline named Caribair (later overtaken by Eastern Air Lines), began flights there. When Caribair became part of Eastern, flights to Dorado Airport were suspended.
During the mid 1960s, Dorado was served by Dorado Wings (later renamed Crown Air), a small airline that operated charter flights between Dorado Airport and Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan. The airline operated propeller airplanes.
In the early 1990s, the airport was officially closed. In 1996, the parcel was rezoned and construction commenced of a master planned community: Dorado Beach East. In memory of Dorado Airport and its founder, Ms. Clara Livingston, the developers built a children's playground themed with unique play airplanes, a hangar for activities, and a runway plaza.
Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (LMM), previously known as the Isla Verde International Airport, is the primary international airport of Puerto Rico serving the capital municipality of San Juan and its metropolitan area. Covering 1,600 acres, SJU is located in the beach-front district of Isla Verde in the municipality of Carolina. Named after Luis Muñoz Marín, the first elected governor of the archipelago and island, it is, as of 2023, the 39th busiest airport by passenger boarding, 28th by international passenger traffic, and 24th by cargo throughput in the United States or its territories. With 12,197,553 million passengers in 2023, SJU is the busiest airport in the Caribbean, where it serves as a major gateway into the region.
Eastern Air Lines was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Henry E. Rohlsen Airport is a public airport six miles (10 km) southwest of Christiansted on the island of St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. The airport is named after Henry E. Rohlsen, a St. Croix native who was one of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
Mercedita International Airport (AIM) is an international airport located three nautical miles (6 km) east of the central business district of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The airport covers 270 cuerdas of land and has one runway. It was inaugurated as an international airport on 1 November 1990. It was built with combined funds from the Municipality of Ponce and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Hewanorra International Airport, located near Vieux Fort Quarter, Saint Lucia, in the Caribbean, is the larger of Saint Lucia's two airports and is managed by the Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority (SLASPA). It is on the southern cape of the island, about 53.4 km (33.2 mi) from the capital city, Castries.
Rafael Hernández Airport, also referred to as the Rafael Hernández International Airport, is an airport located in the municipality of Aguadilla in northwestern Puerto Rico. Named after the composer Rafael Hernández Marín, it is the second-largest airport of the archipelago and island in terms of passenger traffic after the main airport of Luis Muñoz Marín International. It is also home to Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations. Set to be modernized, the 11,702 ft long runway of the airport is the longest in the Caribbean.
Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport, also commonly known as Isla Grande Airport, is an airport in Isla Grande, a district in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by the Puerto Rico Ports Authority and is adjacent to the Puerto Rico Convention Center, the San Juan Bay, and the Pan American Cruise Ship Terminal, and overlooks Cataño. While Isla Grande's main activity is general aviation, it is still a commercial airport, handling domestic and international commercial flights.
George F. L. Charles Airport is the smaller of the two airports in Saint Lucia, the other being Hewanorra International Airport. It is located 2 km (1.2 mi) north of Castries, the capital city. George F. L. Charles Airport is managed by the Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority (SLASPA). Its runway runs parallel to a pristine beach, Vigie Beach, which is a popular tourist attraction.
Eugenio María de Hostos Airport is a public use airport 4 miles (6 km) north of Mayagüez, a coastal city in Puerto Rico. The airport is named after Mayagüez native Eugenio Maria de Hostos. It offers limited, domestic commercial service, subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
Dorado Wings was a small commuter airline that operated from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Dorado Airport in the tourist center of Dorado, Puerto Rico. Dorado Wings was the only commercial operator at Dorado Airport. Dorado Wings existed under that name from 1964 to 1981. In early 1981, the airline was purchased and its name was changed to Crown Air which operated until 1988.
Cyril E. King Airport is a public airport located two miles (3 km) west of the central business district in the town of Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. It is currently the busiest airport in the United States Virgin Islands, and one of the busiest in the eastern Caribbean, servicing 1,403,000 passengers from July 2015 through June 2016. The airport also serves the island of St. John and is additionally often used by those travelling to the nearby British Virgin Islands.
Air Sunshine is an airline based in the United States and in Puerto Rico. It operates scheduled service to and from San Juan and Vieques, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Anguilla, Dominica, Sint Maarten, Nevis, St. Kitts, Tortola and Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands and Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Its main base is Fort Lauderdale, with a Caribbean hub located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Daytona Beach International Airport is a county-owned airport located three miles (5 km) southwest of Daytona Beach, next to Daytona International Speedway, in Volusia County, Florida, United States. The airport has 3 runways, a six-gate domestic terminal, and an international terminal. Daytona Beach is the headquarters of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Caribair was an airline based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It operated scheduled services within the Dominican Republic and to Haiti, as well as charter flights and air taxi services throughout the Caribbean. Its main base was La Isabela International Airport, Santo Domingo.
Cibao International Airport, also known as Santiago Airport, is located in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic's second-largest city. It is the country's third-busiest airport by passenger traffic and aircraft movements, after Punta Cana International Airport and Las Américas International Airport. The airport is located 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) southeast of Santiago City's center.
Caribair was a Puerto Rican airline based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that served over a dozen destinations in the Caribbean as well as Miami. In 1970, the air carrier was serving 16 destinations on 14 Caribbean islands, plus Miami. The airline offered McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jet service via a number of intermediate stops including San Juan (SJU) for its direct flight services between Miami (MIA) and Port of Spain, Trinidad. Caribair was the first Puerto Rico-based airline to operate jet aircraft on scheduled passenger services. The air carrier was acquired by Eastern Air Lines in 1973.
Clara Livingston was the 200th licensed female pilot and 11th female helicopter pilot in the world.
Air Caribbean Flight 309 was a domestic, non-scheduled airline flight by Puerto Rican airline Air Caribbean, which on September 26, 1978, crashed as it was preparing to land at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, after a flight from Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla, killing all six occupants of the aircraft and injuring several customers of a Barrio Obrero bar over which the airplane fell.
Aeronaves de Puerto Rico was a short-lived Puerto Rican airline company which operated from November 1982 to 1983. The airline was initially certified to fly between Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla and the United States city of Newark, New Jersey. Later on, flights were begun from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York, using a Boeing 707 jet.
Aviation in Puerto Rico has a complex and long history, almost as long as the history of aviation itself. Puerto Rican aviation history has been filled with events, well-known characters and airline companies which have shaped the country's transportation services and the way people travel between cities and to other countries.