Airline Name
Aeromar Lineas Aereas DominicanasIATA: BQ / ICAO: ROM / CALLSIGN: BRAVO QUEBEC
Founded and commenced operations in 1962 (known as Aeromar Cargo, until 1998), ceased operations in 2003
(Reason for ceasing of operations unknown)
Country of Origin
Dominican Republic / Republica Dominicana ()
Main Hub(s): Las Americas International Airport (SDQ), Cibao International Airport (STI), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
(For this airline, some types are available in WoA, some not.)Aircraft operated (already in-game):
Boeing 737 (-200 Adv, -300, B732/B733) - 2 former.
(1 of each variant.)
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-200 Adv HI-777CA - now known as OD-NOR, stored)(Pictured below: Boeing 737-300 N550FA - later broken up, known as N591SH at end of its life)
Do note that this aircraft was in the livery of another airline, Falcon Air Express, hence the different livery and the American registration.
I’m not sure if it was leased from them, as records show Falcon only acquired the aircraft in 2004 after Aeromar, though I’m not sure what other explanation could be offered for it… it’s quite confusing.
Anyways though, that should be it for the 737s, so moving on:Boeing 747 (-200, B742) - 1 former.
(Pictured below: HI-756CA - later broken up, known as XT-DMS at end of its life)A bit of interesting history about this aircraft:
Aeromar acquired this aircraft in June 2001 to begin services to Madrid, though there are two stories about its short history with the airline.
The first story, primarily sourced from Wikipedia, claims that due to heavy competition from Iberia, the route was later dropped and the 747 left the fleet following the lack of success.
The second story claims that Aeromar either didn’t have the proper documentation, or provided faulty documents, and thus the 747 couldn’t operate to Spain.
I’m not quite sure which one is the real story (maybe both?) but either way, the 747 didn’t have much success with the airline - by January of 2002, the aircraft had left the fleet and began service with a new operator, more specifically Transjet Airways.Anyways, with that bit aside, let’s go to the next type:
Boeing 757 (-200, B752) - 2 former.
(Pictured below: TF-FIR - partially scrapped)Similar to the case of N550FA before, their 757s were leased from another operator, specifically Icelandair, hence the different registration prefix.
As a matter of fact, the other leased 757 appeared to bear a hybrid livery of sorts, shown here:
(Pictured below: TF-FIW - later broken up)The next aircraft type also was actually also leased from an Icelandic airline, though not Icelandair itself - instead it was Air Atlanta Icelandic:
Boeing 767 (-200, -200ER, -300ER, B762/B763) - 3 former.
(1 of each variant.)
(Pictured below: Boeing 767-200 TF-ATY - now known as OY-SRK)(Pictured below: Boeing 767-200ER TF-ATO - later broken up, known as N767HS at end of its life)
(Pictured below: Boeing 767-300ER TF-ATT - now known as N219CY)
And I believe that should be it for this aircraft, and thus the selection of aircraft already in-game, so let’s see what else they operated that isn’t:
Aircraft operated (not in-game):
Boeing 720 (no specific variant, B720) - 2 former.
(Pictured below: N7219U - now known as XA-SDL, derelict)Aircraft like the 720s were listed as being used for cargo operations when the airline was still known as Aeromar Cargo, though the aircraft doesn’t appear to have been converted, either.
Anyways, Aeromar leased two of this aircraft type, with this example having crystal-clear United Airlines heritage - though they didn’t lease the aircraft directly from them, as it went through various operators throughout the 70s before ending up with Aeromar. As for why it still had clear UAL colors, trust me, I don’t know either.But before we move to the next type, it’s worth noting that the second 727 also had a notable ‘former operator’ livery, shown here:
(Pictured below: N720CC - later broken up, known as HI-372 at end of its life)I figured it was also worth noting that these two did have their own Dominican registrations - N7219U later became HI-415, and N720CC above became HI-372, as listed. I would’ve included shots with their updated registrations, but it appears most shots with them were taken with the aircraft (specifically HI-415) in derelict, worn-down states.
Anyways, with the 720s covered, let’s move on:Boeing 727 (-200, -200 Adv, B722) - 2 former.
(1 of each variant.)
(Pictured below: Boeing 727-200 N266US - status unknown)This aircraft also appears to have been painted in Falcon Air Express colors, according to image descriptions, at least for the tail section - also explaining the American registration as well.
The same can also be said for the other 727, though it had a somewhat different livery:
(Pictured below: Boeing 727-200 Adv N203AV - later scrapped)Do take note of the little “Falcon Air Express” text near the L1 door - I wasn’t able to get any closeups of it, unfortunately, though it does seem as if it was only present on the left side - hence why I provided an extra reference to show what the other side looked like.
But now, that should be all for the 727s, so next up:Curtiss C-46 Commando (-46A, C46) - 9 former.
(Pictured below: HI-171 - later written off, known as C-GTXW at end of its life)Douglas DC-6 (-6BF, DC6F) - exact number of aircraft operated not available/not clear.
(Pictured below: HI-592CT - later scrapped)Douglas DC-8 (-33F, -51, -54F, -54CF, DC83/DC85) - 6 former.
(2/1/1/2 for each variant, respectively.)
(Pictured below: Douglas DC-8-33F (converted) N45908 - later scrapped, known as HK-3178X at end of its life)Just for the record, that aircraft was later reregistered to HI-435 when serving this airline, which would turn out to be its second to final registration.
As for this type, I couldn’t exactly find many other liveries, besides another in ex-UAL colors:
(Pictured below: Douglas DC-8-33F (converted) HI-413 - later scrapped)Continuing on with the variants:
(I couldn’t find any media of their DC-8-51 [HI-452] and DC-8-54F [N54FA], sorry about that)
(Pictured below: Douglas DC-8-54CF Jet Trader HI-426 - later scrapped, known as N426FB at end of its life)
And finally, here’s an alternative livery, found on the second -54CF:
(Pictured below: Douglas DC-8-54CF Jet Trader HI-427 - later scrapped, known as N427FB at end of its life)
Why should this airline be added?
I’d say this airline should be added primarily as it adds to rather “niche” or rarer aircraft types, specifically such as the B742 and B762 (alongside the upcoming B732/B733), and would make for some great events in North America, namely the United States/Caribbean, and I think their livery looks striking and definitely pretty unique.
While I do understand this airline would more than likely be event-only, given it falls short of the “2010s rule”, I still believe that this airline should be added, and shouldn’t take away from its potential and status as a notable part of Dominican aviation history.As for where they could show up: I’ve established they would be able to serve North America and the Caribbean just fine with all of their types, though the airline could also have the potential to appear at farther out airports, such as those in South America (GRU/SCL), and Europe (LHR, LEJ, PRG, ZRH, etc), though mainly through the aforementioned B742/B762, and possibly B752 as well.
For all of those reasons - adding to rarer, lesser-seen aircraft like the B742 and B762 and allowing for more content options for the B732/B733, a striking, memorable main livery, aircraft types capable of reaching all of North America alongside farther-out regions like Europe and South America, and adding to the Dominican Republic’s aviation history - do I believe that this airline would be great to see represented in-game.
SOURCES:
Aeromar Dominicana’s Planespotters.net Page
Aeromar Dominicana’s Wikipedia Page