Santo Domingo.– The Punta Cana International Airport announced a 5% increase in seat capacity on flights for 2010 and will add 363 new flights, tourism industry sources revealed.

The airport, which has the greatest volume of traffic in the country and is served by the largest number of airlines for a single airport in the Caribbean, will experience a 5.7% growth in the number of flights next year (363), compared to the 6,378 registered for the high winter season in 2009.

According to the Information and Communication Center (CICOM), availability of seats into Punta Cana Airport is increasing by 66,874, 5.1% more compared to the 1.3 million seats available for the 2008-2009 winter season. The report states 6,741 flights with 1,371,794 seats have been scheduled so far.

There will also be a 4.3% increase in flights from the United States and 7.8% in number of seats, for 4,117 flights and 239,000 seats. American Airlines, US Airways and Delta lead in regular flights to Punta Cana.

Flying in from Canada are Air Canada, whici added 10 flights, Canjet and Sunwing. There will be 2,118 flights, up 10.1%, with 34,000 more seats (up 9.2%), totalling 406,000 seats. Air Transat is still the principal carrier –with 125,000 seats–, but is down 10% compared to 2009.