This would be the first Arajet route not departing from Santo Domingo Las Americas International Airport.
Startup Dominican carrier Arajet has announced a new route connecting the Dominican Republic and Colombia. Last week, Arajet announced it will offer two weekly flights from Cibao International Airport (STI) to Bogota El Dorado International Airport (BOG).
Increasing connectivity in the Latin American region
Since last year, Arajet has quickly become one of Latin America’s fastest-growing airlines. The company, which had its first flight in September, currently operates 17 routes from its hub at Santo Domingo las Americas International Airport (SDQ), flying to nine countries across the region.
Last week, Arajet announced a new route to be operated shortly. This is the first route that will not be operated from the company’s base in Santo Domingo. Instead, the service will connect Santiago de los Caballeros (through its airport Cibao International), with Bogota.
Arajet will offer two weekly flights on this route, strengthening the tourism strategy in the Dominican Republic, said the country’s Tourism Minister, David Collado.
The Dominican ultra-low-cost carrier currently offers 96 weekly flights and 17,760 seats on 17 routes. It employs a Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet composed of five aircraft and expects to add new narrow body jets this year.
The CEO and founder of Arajet, Victor Pacheco Mendez, said that very soon they will unveil details about the new frequencies and the diversification of Arajet’s operation to Cibao International Airport, and said,
“One of the fundamental objectives of Arajet is to support the projection of the country to attract more tourists, and two weekly frequencies from Santiago confirm the value that the Heart City and the people of Cibao have for Arajet, which very soon will be able to arrive directly to Colombia, the country in which we operate the most destinations, and which has become one of the main countries of origin of tourists to the Dominican Republic.”
Beyond the new Santiago-Bogota route, Arajet is looking to add new connectivity this year. In December 2022, the airline requested to fly eight new regional routes, reaching Brazil, Honduras, Belize, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana. Arajet has not yet announced when these new routes could be launched.
Arajet launches rescue fares for stranded Viva passengers
This week, the Colombian ultra-low-cost carrier Viva Air temporarily ceased operations in the midst of a complex merger process with Avianca. The airline left thousands of stranded passengers across the region, and airlines such as Avianca, LATAM, Viva Aerobus, and Arajet, announced rescue fares to help the impacted travelers.
In a statement, Arajet regretted the cease of operations of Viva Air, an airline that operated daily flights between Medellín International Airport (MDE) and Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ). To help the stranded passengers, the airline offered a special US$19 fare (plus taxes) on flights from Santo Domingo Las Americas International –less than two hours away from Punta Cana– to Medellín. This fare is available for purchase until March 10 and available on trips until March 31 and applies only to passengers with a previously booked flight with Colombia’s Viva Air. (https://simpleflying.com/arajet-new-route-dominican-republic-colombia/?newsletter_popup=1)
