On Thursday, the Latin American and Caribbean region formally saw the first flight of a new carrier, the Dominican ultra-low-cost carrier Arajet. This airline, fueled by its Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet, is looking to operate low-cost flights to and from Santo Domingo’s Las Américas International Airport (SDQ).
The first flight of many
Arajet inaugurated its commercial services throughout Latin America with a flight between Santo Domingo and Barranquilla International Airport (BAQ), Colombia, on Thursday. The airline employed its Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft registration HI1082 to operate the round service.
Flight WI3010 between Santo Domingo and Barranquilla lasted nearly two hours and covered 999 kilometers (621 miles). While this may have been Arajet’s first commercial flight, the airline will hold a special event on Saturday, September 17, at Las Américas International Airport.
On social media, Víctor Pacheco, Arajet’s CEO, said that the time has come for a new airline to start flying.
“Today, we begin our operations. Proudly, we will take the Dominicans to the sky. We invite you to Las Américas International Airport on Saturday to accompany us and celebrate our launch in a big way. Have a good journey.”
On Friday, the airline is expected to operate commercial flights to Barranquilla and Cali, Colombia. Both of these routes are entirely uncontested.
The birth of an airline
Arajet has been a lot of years in the making. This is the third rebranding of a Dominican carrier that first had its origins in 2014 when it was called Dominican Wings. Then it was called flycana between 2018 and 2021, before finally being rebranded and launched as Arajet in 2021.
The new airline signed a deal with Boeing for 20 737 MAX aircraft, with the option for 15 additional jets in 2022. These will be delivered from 2024 onwards. Arajet requested the MAX 8-200 variant, which is denser, and perfectly adapted for an ultra-low-cost business model. In the meantime, Arajet leased five MAX 8 jetliners to launch operations. The lessor is Griffin Global Asset Management.
Arajet is looking to serve 13 destinations in nine countries in this first phase of its history. Some have already been approved, and the airline will operate flights to Aruba (AUA), Barranquilla (BAQ), Cali (CLO), Cancún (CUN), Cartagena (CTG), Guatemala (GUA), Lima (LIM), Monterrey (MTY), Mexico City (NLU) San Salvador (SAL), and St. Marteen (SXM), according to data by Cirium.
Nonetheless, the airline is also looking to fly to Toronto (YYZ) and Montreal (YUL) in Canada, Kingston (YGK) in Jamaica, San José (SJO) in Costa Rica, Curazao (CUR), Bogotá (BOG), and Medellín (MDE) in Colombia), and Quito (UIO) and Guayaquil (GYE) in Ecuador. In the mid-future, Arajet is also eyeing flights to the United States, but the destinations have not been formally announced.
The plan
Arajet plans to leverage the location of Santo Domingo to create an ultra-low-cost network throughout the Americas. In that regard, the plans of the startup are similar to those of Viva Colombia, which employs its base at Medellín International Airport to connect the region with short one-layover flights. It is similar to the successful business model Copa Airlines has held for decades at Tocumen International Airport (PTY).
As previously reported by Simple Flying’s James Pearson, most of the Arajet routes are uncontested. The airline, like many ULCCs, is prioritizing unserved routes, with 11 of its 13 initial routes not having any head-to-head competition. Moreover, many routes, including Cartagena and Monterrey, haven’t even been operated before.
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