Seaborne Airlines will begin service to its 17th airport, Cibao International Airport in Santiago, Dominican Republic, with nonstop flights from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the airline reported Monday.
The airline also announced a new policy allowing use of electronic devices while aboard Seaborne planes.
Seaborne announced in December that it was moving its headquarters from St. Croix to Puerto Rico, in part to position itself as Puerto Rico’s preferred carrier connecting the island with its neighbors in the Caribbean.
The daily service between Luis Munoz Marin International Airport and Cibao International in Santiago is scheduled to begin March 15. Santiago will be Seaborne’s third destination within the Dominican Republic. Service to the existing two is also being expanded: twice-a-week service to La Romana will become daily starting March 15 and daily service will begin to Punta Cana on Feb. 14, the airline said.
Seaborne also announced it is the first Caribbean-based airline to allow customers to use cellphones and other portable electronic devices such as e-readers and tablets in an airplane mode from gate to gate with Federal Aviation Administration approval.
Seaborne aircraft have completed carrier-defined tolerance testing to ensure the safe operation of hand-held passenger portable electronic devices during all phases of flight, the airline said.
Seaborne’s move from St. Croix to Puerto Rico cost the Virgin Islands about 80 jobs, and the airline is still entangled in a dispute with the Government Employee Retirement System over repayment of loans. In announcing the move the airline repaid more than $4 million it owed GERS, but the retirement system says the airline still owes more than $186,000.
