AIDA Locks In 10-Year Fly & Cruise Commitment at La Romana

AIDA Cruises has signed a 10-year agreement with Central Romana Corporation, binding fly & cruise operations (packages combining charter flights and cruise departures) to the Dominican port and airport of La Romana through the late 2030s.

The deal was signed at an industry event in London by Anika Birkholz, member of the Executive Committee at AIDA Cruises, and Luis Emilio Rodríguez, La Romana Airport & Port Director of Central Romana Corporation. Dominican Tourism Minister David Collado attended the signing.

For travel sellers, the significance is distribution certainty: a decade-long homeport commitment gives AIDA and its partners a fixed planning horizon for ship deployments, charter flight capacity and passenger flows out of a single Caribbean gateway.

What does the agreement cover?

The partnership formalizes years of operational collaboration into a binding framework for the next ten years, with the stated goal of strengthening La Romana as an AIDA homeport in the Caribbean.

"The new agreement builds on many years of operational collaboration and creates a binding framework for cooperation over the next ten years," Birkholz said.

She added: "Long-term planning allows both partners greater reliability in coordinating ship arrivals, passenger numbers, flight capacities, and the necessary processes. Above all, however, the agreement reflects our shared goal of consistently offering our guests a reliable and high-quality travel experience."

The reliability argument matters commercially. Fly & cruise products live or die on synchronized air seats and berth capacity; a ten-year framework reduces the coordination risk that typically forces last-minute itinerary or flight changes.

Which ships are deploying, and when?

AIDA confirmed La Romana will receive three ships in each of three consecutive winter seasons:

• 2026-27: three ships calling regularly, opening with AIDAdiva on November 14, 2026
• 2027-28: AIDAluna, AIDAprima and AIDAbella
• 2028-29: AIDAprima, AIDAdiva and AIDAbella

AIDA describes the Caribbean as a key winter destination in its program, generating demand for German-source fly & cruise passengers even through the northern winter.

What does La Romana gain?

Rodríguez framed the deal as a milestone for the port's positioning. "This agreement is an important milestone in our long-standing collaboration with AIDA Cruises," he said.

"The mutual commitments create a strong foundation for further development and strengthen La Romana as a strategic cruise destination, homeport, and fly & cruise hub in the Caribbean," Rodríguez said. "Together, we want to build on the integrated offering of the port and airport, further develop passenger and flight volumes, and create additional opportunities for La Romana and the Dominican Republic."

That last point carries the revenue signal: Central Romana's pitch is integrated port-plus-airport volume growth, meaning more turnaround passengers (guests embarking and disembarking) feeding local transport, hotels and excursion supply chains.

The takeaway

AIDA has converted an operational relationship into a decade of committed capacity at La Romana, starting with AIDAdiva's arrival on November 14, 2026 — a planning anchor both partners intend to build flight and passenger volumes on.