Arajet, the Dominican Republic’s first low-cost carrier, inaugurated four new destinations in Central and South America in two days, after starting operations on September 15 with Barranquilla (BAQ) and Cali (CLO), Colombia.
On September 16 it inaugurated its third destination, landing in Aruba (AUA) with flight DM 2010 at 14:13 (local time). The following day it added its fourth route, arriving at 18:00 (local time) in San Salvador (SAL), El Salvador, operating flight DM 4450.
For September 18 they had a double inaugural: at 07:13 (local time) landing in Cartagena (CTG), their third destination in Colombia, and at 16:19 (local time) landing in Lima (LIM), Peru, their longest route in their network with a 4:42 hours duration.
“We celebrate the launch of Arajet as our new national airline. Our government will continue to support Arajet and the aviation industry in general to ensure its competitiveness and create an air hub that promotes tourism, trade and cultural exchange, and provides an opportunity for all Dominicans abroad to visit their country at affordable prices,” said President Luis Abinader, President of the Dominican Republic.
Victor Pacheco Mendez, CEO of Arajet, highlighted that the Low-Fare business model and the designation as the Dominican Republic’s national airline will attract more tourists, increase connectivity and offer Dominicans the opportunity to travel at lower fares.
Upcoming destinations
Arajet will continue to expand operations later this month with the addition of routes to Saint Maarten (SXM) in the Caribbean; Mexico City/Santa Lucia (NLU), Monterrey (MTY) and Cancun (CUN) in Mexico and Guatemala City (GUA) in Guatemala.
“We are excited to begin operations and provide Dominicans and all our guests with low fares, a world-class customer experience and a new and growing network to and from Santo Domingo to major cities in the Americas,” said Victor Pacheco.
In October, Curaçao (CUR) and San José (SJO) in Costa Rica will be added. In November, Quito (UIO) and Guayaquil (GYE) in Ecuador, and Kingston (KIN), Jamaica, will be added. The start dates for Medellin (MDE) and Bogota (BOG) in Colombia, as well as Toronto (YYZ) and Montreal (YUL), Canada, are still to be announced.
“With the launch of Arajet, our country will begin to feel the impact the airline will have in the Dominican Republic. Arajet will contribute to the growth of the tourism industry and will attract more visitors from new destinations so that we can continue to reach record numbers in tourist arrivals and diversify the nationality of our visitors with fair fares that connect Santo Domingo with the continent,” said Dominican Republic Minister of Tourism David Collado.
Over the next 5 years, the low-cost airline expects to transport more than seven million passengers, generating more than 4,000 direct jobs and close to 40,000 indirect jobs in the region.
Arajet has already received 5 of 8 direct leases for new 189-passenger Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. They also have a direct order for 20 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with options for an additional 15 aircraft to be delivered over the next five years.
The company will continue to add new destinations in 2023 as it adds aircraft, including flights to the United States, Panama, Brazil, Martinique, Guadeloupe and others.
Frequencies at new destinations
All destinations will be operated from its hub in Santo Domingo/Las Americas (SDQ):
- Aruba (AUA); two weekly flights (Monday and Friday).
- Barranquilla (BAQ); three weekly flights (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays).
- Cali (CLO); three weekly flights (Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays).
- Cartagena (CTG); two weekly flights (Wednesday and Sunday).
- San Salvador (SAL), El Salvador; two weekly flights (Wednesdays and Saturdays).
- Lima (LIM), Peru; two weekly flights (Wednesday and Sunday).
