On March 3, the first Boeing 737-8 for Arajet arrived at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at 11:36 a.m. (local time), following a handover ceremony at Boeing Field between the manufacturer’s authorities and the company.
It is a historic event for the Dominican Republic, as it is the first MAX registered in the country. The aircraft, with registration HI 1026 (msn/ln 60195/8035), has a capacity for 189 passengers.
It was named after Pico Duarte, the Dominican Republic’s highest mountain elevation. The 6:30-hour delivery flight was piloted by Raul Piña (Dominican) and Gustavus Viljoen (South African).
The company is scheduled to receive five Boeing 737-8s initially. The incoming aircraft will have to go through a series of Dominican regulatory procedures.
In February, a technical delegation from the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute (IDAC) traveled to Seattle, United States, to inspect and approve the arrival of the first Boeing 737 MAX to the country.
The president of Arajet’s board of directors, Víctor Pacheco Méndez, informed that the official launch of the airline will take place on March 14. The announcement will be done at an event to be headed by the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, at the Las Américas International Airport.
It will also be attended by the most important aeronautical and tourism authorities of the country, as well as several of the main executives of The Boeing Company and international investors.
CEO’s word
“We are getting closer and closer to realizing the dream of all Dominicans to have a flagship airline that connects us to the main destinations in the region. Offering the best prices in the market and with new, state-of-the-art aircraft, which in this case will be manufactured by Boeing,” said Pacheco Méndez in a press release.
According to him, the event will announce which destinations Arajet will initially be flying to, and which other destinations will be gradually incorporated as the year 2022 progresses.
In addition, it is expected that the airline’s starting date for operations and ticket sales will be announced on that day.
A brief history of Arajet
Arajet is an ultra low cost, born as DW Dominican Wings in 2014, the company operated several charter flights with Airbus A320 aircraft from Avion Express in wet leasing.
In 2018 it changed its corporate name to Flycana, keeping the air operator certificate of DW Dominican Wings, to become an ultra-low-cost.
During 2020 a new airline emerged, called SkyCana. In this situation, Flycana was forced to change its name to Arajet, so as not to cause confusion in the market.
During the announcement of the name change, it revealed the acquisition of five Boeing 737 MAX, being the third operator of the model in the Caribbean, after Caribbean Airlines and Cayman Airways.
At the helm of the airline is Mike Powell, as Co-Founder and CEO, who previously worked in the early days of Flybondi and Wizz Air.
As founder and CEO is Victor Pacheco Mendez, who was the founder of Grupo Vimenca.
Aims to be the first low-cost airline in the Caribbean. According to the company, it will have the lowest unit costs in the region. This will allow it to stimulate demand with dramatically lower fares than those currently available.
The Dominican Republic’s Civil Aviation Board (JAC) granted in November 2021 the authorization to operate scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo air services in international operations from the Dominican Republic to the United States, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands (Netherlands Antilles) and France (French Caribbean Antilles).
The company joins a number of new and growing airlines in the Dominican Republic. For instance SkyCana, Sky High Aviation Services, Air Century, and RED Air.
