Aerovías Quisqueyana, Airline of the Dominican Republic

If you're less than 35 years old, chances are that you may have never heard of Aerovías Quisqueyana, once the second largest airline of the Dominican Republic.

Aerovías Nacionales Quisqueyana, officially defunct since 1978, was founded in 1962, and based at Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The airline quickly became a direct compitetor to Dominicana de Aviación, which from its initial launch served as the flag carrier of the nation.

Such was the threat from Quisqueyana, that in 1963, Dominicana de Aviación used its influence to force the infant airline to drop "Nacionales" from its official name.

Quisqueyana first launched with one Douglas DC-3, a fixed-wing propeller-driven plane which was first introduced in the mid 1930s, and other small aircrafts. Later it would add another DC-3 and continue with two Lockheed Constellations (L-749A and 049), a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner which was first introduced in the early 1940s. Quisqueyana was the last airline in the world to use a Constellation 049 plane for commercial passenger flights (a beloved story by Constellation enthusiasts).

Throughout its short existance, its fleet also included a Curtiss C-46 Commando (Produced. 1940–1945), Martin 4-0-4 (p. 1951-1953), Boeing 707 (p. 1958–1979), Douglas DC-8 (p. 1958–1972), Convair 880 (p. 1959-1962), and a Boeing 727 (p. 1963–1984).

At its peak, Aerovías Quisqueyana offered scheduled passenger flights from Santo Domingo to Itay, Spain, Puerto Rico and to Miami, Florida.

Sources / Images: aviation-safety.net, conniesurvivors.com, michaelprophet.com, Wikipedia