(Trinidad Guardian) Dominican Republic-based start-up Arajet Airlines, has received permission from the country’s civil aviation board, Junta de Aviación Civil (JAC), to begin both scheduled and unscheduled flights to Trinidad from its base at Santo Domingo’s Las Américas International Airport (SDQ).
Arajet also received permission to fly routes to Brazil, Honduras, Belize, Barbados and Guyana.
The announcement was made via JAC’s Twitter page on Thursday. JAC says operations are expected to begin in March 2023 using the company’s existing fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8s.
Arajet Airlines is an ultra-low-cost airline based in the Dominican Republic. It began operations in September 2022 and currently flies to 18 destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ultra-low-cost carriers typically unbundle fares – meaning that your ticket only covers the price of a seat. The airline then upsells passengers on everything extra, including baggage and meal.
However, in an interview with aviation site SimpleFlying.com, Arajet’s CEO Víctor Pacheco dismissed the ultra-low-cost title, preferring to call Arajet an ‘ultra-low-price airline’. Pacheco says customers can expect fares around 30% to 60% cheaper than those currently available on the market. Tickets for these new routes can be booked in the upcoming weeks.
Contacted yesterday, Minister of Tourism Randall Mitchell said a contingent from the Tourism Trinidad Limited and Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago attended the World Routes conference in Las Vegas in October and met with several airlines, including Arajet Airlines, who expressed an interest in flying to Trinidad and Tobago.
“During the meeting with Arajet Airline executives, they signalled their intention to service the Dominican Republic to Port-of-Spain route. After this conference, discussions continued with a view to securing a scheduled service to T&T. The start of this service, therefore, is in keeping with our sustained efforts at airlift development and improve connectivity between our key source markets and Trinidad and Tobago,” Mitchell said.
However, there is no information at this point on when Arajet will start operations in T&T, since they have not yet signed off on an agreement with T&T’s Civil Aviation.
