Departure
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La Isabela International Airport, also known as Dr. Joaquin Balaguer International Airport, is a secondary airport for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, sited at El Higuero some ten kilometres northwest of the city. It offers a single hard-surfaced runway suited to regional airliners, private and charter traffic, and light training aircraft, making it a manageable and interesting destination for the simulator VFR pilot exploring the Caribbean.
La Isabela International Airport (ICAO: MDJB, IATA: JBQ), officially named Dr. Joaquin Balaguer International Airport, serves as the secondary airport for Santo Domingo. It is operated by Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (Aerodom), part of the VINCI Airports group, and functions as a hub for smaller regional and charter operators as well as private aviation, giving it a different character to the capital's main international gateway and making it a worthwhile stop for pilots wanting a quieter Caribbean field with a genuine mix of airline and general aviation traffic.
The airport lies in the locality of El Higuero within the municipality of Santo Domingo, approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) northwest of the city centre, in the Dominican Republic.
MDJB has a single physical runway, 01/19, 5,439 ft long with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS at the field.
Air traffic services are provided by Higuero Tower, with Tower on 118.9 MHz and Ground on 121.7 MHz. The airport is equipped for IFR approach operations, though no ILS is installed.
La Isabela International Airport opened on 23 February 2006 as a second airport for Santo Domingo, built to replace the older Herrera International Airport. It is named after former Dominican president Joaquin Balaguer. The airport is owned and operated by Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (Aerodom); in 2015 VINCI Airports acquired the company, with operating rights originally running to March 2030 and subsequently extended for a further thirty years.
The airport serves mainly domestic and regional Caribbean flights and acts as a hub for private and charter operators flying smaller aircraft, including Air Century, which connects La Isabela with destinations such as Aruba, Curacao, Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Sint Maarten, and Sunrise Airways, which serves Port-au-Prince. Two taxiways and a parking apron serve the field, with ramp space able to accommodate small aircraft up to the size of an ATR-72. Air traffic control operates from a control tower on the airfield.