Through Resolution 447/2023, published this Thursday in the Official Gazette, the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC) of Argentina has authorized the Dominican low-cost airline Arajet to operate regular flights between Santo Domingo and Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires.
The resolution indicates that the authorization is granted “considering the provisions contained in the current bilateral framework with the Dominican Republic on capacity, it would correspond to grant the authorization without specifying the frequencies and the type of flight equipment to be used, the same being subject to the limitations imposed by the carrier’s flag authority in accordance with what is agreed at the bilateral level”.
In March of this year, Arajet had already received the green light from the Civil Aviation Board of the Dominican Republic to fly to Buenos Aires as part of an expansion package to the Southern Cone that also includes services to Asunción, Montevideo, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, São Paulo, and Santiago. So far, the low-cost carrier has set the start date for the last two cities for September and October respectively, while in the case of Asunción, DINAC, the Paraguayan aeronautical authority, announced that the airline would land in that country in November, without the airline having announced the service so far.
See also: Arajet will fly between Santiago de Chile and Santo Domingo
Last week, Arajet hinted on its social networks that it would announce a new destination in the coming days, which could be either Buenos Aires or Asunción.
The Dominican low-cost carrier’s network currently covers Aruba (AUA); Barranquilla (BAQ), Bogotá (BOG) and Cartagena (CTG), Colombia; San José (SJO), Costa Rica; Curaçao (CUR); Quito (UIO) and Guayaquil (GYE), Ecuador; San Salvador (SAL), El Salvador; Guatemala City (GUA); Kingston (KIN), Jamaica; Cancún (CUN) and Mexico City (MEX), Mexico; Lima (LIM), Peru; and St. Maarten (SXM). In addition to São Paulo and Santiago de Chile, Toronto and Montreal will soon be added.
Arajet’s goal is to transform the Las Americas airport in Santo Domingo into a new “North-South” hub for America. To this end, it plans to end 2023 with twice its current fleet, which currently consists of five Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, with capacity for 185 passengers, but it has an order for 35 Boeing 737 MAX 8-200, the high-density version of the MAX that can accommodate up to 210 passengers.
Currently, Aerolíneas Argentinas is the only operator between the two countries, connecting Buenos Aires (Ezeiza) with Punta Cana (PUJ), using Boeing 737-8 aircraft with three weekly flights that become daily during the peak season. In 2022, the state-owned company transported 78,922 passengers on the route, according to ANAC Argentina.
