In a move set to reshape the Dominican Republic’s aviation sector, the national airline industry association has publicly praised President Luis Abinader’s latest policy decision to introduce a regulated temperature adjustment for aviation turbine fuel, commonly known as avtur. The Asociacion Dominicana de Lineas Aéreas (ADLA), the leading industry body representing the country’s airline operators, describes the reform as a critical milestone that will strengthen the sector’s long-term competitiveness.
The regulatory change did not emerge spontaneously: it directly responds to a formal policy proposal ADLA submitted to national authorities back in March 2025. The association had long pushed for equal regulatory treatment between avtur and other liquid fuels sold across the Dominican Republic, a request that has now been granted by the government.
Beyond welcoming the president’s approval, ADLA also extended formal gratitude to Eduardo Sanz Lovatón, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, as well as his ministry’s entire technical team. The new framework not only codifies the temperature adjustment for avtur but also adds aviation fuel to the weekly public fuel price announcements published by the government, bringing greater transparency to the market.
Omar A. Chahin, president of ADLA, emphasized that the long-sought adjustment will create far fairer operating conditions for all airlines serving the Dominican Republic. He also reaffirmed that the policy recognizes the outsized economic importance of air connectivity, which serves as a foundational pillar for the country’s key tourism, trade and investment sectors.
To understand the significance of the change, it is necessary to examine the long-standing inequity in fuel pricing standards. Across global markets, liquid fuel commerce almost universally uses a 15°C reference temperature to calculate standardized volumes, accounting for the fact that fuel volume expands and contracts with temperature fluctuations. In the Dominican Republic, this temperature adjustment has long been applied to common fuels including gasoline, diesel and kerosene to offset volumetric differences caused by temperature shifts. Until now, however, aviation fuel was excluded from this adjustment, placing airlines at a structural cost disadvantage.
ADLA stressed that the reform carries particular weight at a time of persistent volatility in global crude oil markets. Fuel already accounts for one of the largest single operating expenses for airlines, a burden that has grown heavier amid rising international oil prices. With the new temperature adjustment in place, avtur will now be priced according to its actual volume at the standard 15°C reference point, aligning the Dominican Republic’s fuel pricing practices with those common across other regional markets.
Looking ahead, ADLA confirmed that it will maintain ongoing collaborative work with national regulatory authorities to ensure the adjustment is rolled out consistently across the entire avtur distribution chain. The association’s ultimate goal is to guarantee that the cost benefits of the reform are fully passed through to the airline operators that serve the Dominican Republic’s travel and trade markets.