Arajet News and Discussion Thread

drdisque · Tue Jul 05, 2022 5:18 pm

TWA302 wrote:
drdisque wrote:
flyguy1 wrote:
Nice to see another new airline in JFK. Does anyone know whatever happened to Skycana? They started JFK services in late 2021, and then just disappeared one day.

I'm guessing they left JFK to focus on their likely more profitable operation at MIA.

Got this pop-up on the Skycana site

SKY CANA formally clarifies that flight operations to and from the United States are being carried out through a strategic alliance with AIR CENTURY, where AIR CENTURY is the air operator, operating under its AOC, Sky Cana acting as a ticket agent, is up to at the moment, a commercial brand, not an authorized airline for this type of operation.

Indeed, as Sky Cana we are doing all the pertinent governmental and permitting procedures so that when the time comes to operate under our own AOC.

We apologize for the confusion this may have caused the consumer and government entities.

Legal Counsel

USDOT probably got on their case regarding how they presented themselves on their website. So this is my understanding:

SkyCana is just a brand
Tickets are sold by Air Century, a Dominican certificated airline
Flights operated by Avion Express Malta

Humberside · Tue Jul 05, 2022 7:42 pm

drdisque wrote:
I wasn't aware PIE had a working FIS for passenger flights

PIE has had low frequency Canada service at least seasonally for some years, currently with Swoop but I think for quite a few years it was with Sunwing

A388 · Tue Jul 05, 2022 8:00 pm

ScottB wrote:
drdisque wrote:
Their Daily services are solid. I question some of their 2x weekly's.

I wasn't aware PIE had a working FIS for passenger flights
I don't see there being enough demand for FDF, PBM, GCM or GDL.

I don't think most of their 2x weekly flights make any sense. Unless they're going to be connecting passengers from FLL/JFK/SFB/PIE/YYZ at SDQ, I can't see how there's anywhere near enough demand to fill a CRJ, let alone a 737MAX, to BGI/CUN/FDF/GEO/GCM/GYE/KIN/MBJ/NAS/PBM/UIO. There's not a whole lot of cultural connection between the D.R. and the English-/French-/Dutch-speaking countries of the Caribbean/northern South America, and little need to leave for a beach vacation if you're already in Cancun. I really don't get why they'd go to GYE and UIO instead of much larger potential markets like BOG or LIM.

AraJet wants to connect all these cities with each other so you mustn't look at it per destination. If CUN to MIA fills up 40% of the airplane on a certain flight, UIO filling 20%, GYE 10%, all the other smaller cities can fill up the remainder of the airplane. That's how Copa works and all other airlines actually. If that 3% of passengers from FDF can fill that last part of the airplane's capacity, it will work so you mustn't blindly look at FDF to MIA alone, the airplanes are filled by several cities of course. This also goes the other way around. I think these smaller cities they want to serve are cities which are barely getting any flights so that might work to their advantage.

A388

ScottB · Tue Jul 05, 2022 8:33 pm

A388 wrote:
AraJet wants to connect all these cities with each other so you mustn't look at it per destination. If CUN to MIA fills up 40% of the airplane on a certain flight, UIO filling 20%, GYE 10%, all the other smaller cities can fill up the remainder of the airplane. That's how Copa works and all other airlines actually. If that 3% of passengers from FDF can fill that last part of the airplane's capacity, it will work so you mustn't blindly look at FDF to MIA alone, the airplanes are filled by several cities of course. This also goes the other way around. I think these smaller cities they want to serve are cities which are barely getting any flights so that might work to their advantage.

I get that, which is why I said, "Unless they're going to be connecting passengers from FLL/JFK/SFB/PIE/YYZ at SDQ..." 2x weekly to a bunch of destinations isn't enough frequency to have an operation like CM which relies on connecting many points across the Americas. You're not going to realistically connect passengers between spokes which operate on different days.

Personally, I think you'd have to be nuts to book a connection on them to a spoke that only operates 2x/week. If you're late out of JFK you might be stuck in SDQ for 3 or 4 days waiting for the next flight.

Chele737 · Tue Jul 05, 2022 9:44 pm

asuflyer wrote:
Arajet will launch 23 destinations between July of this year and January 2023. The dates of launch were not yet listed and flights are not yet in the GDS. The airline already has 3 737MAX8's on property

From Santo Domingo (SDQ)

Daily services to
Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
New York (JFK)
Orlando/Sanford (SFB)

5 weekly to
Panama City (PTY)

2 weekly to
Barranquilla (BAQ)
Bridgetown (BGI)
Cancún (CUN)
Cartagena (CTG)
Fort-de-France (FDF)
Georgetown (GEO)
Grand Cayman (GCM)
Guadalajara (GDL)
Guayaquil (GYE)
Kingston (KIN)
Montego Bay (MBJ)
Monterrey (MTY)
Mexico City (MEX)
Nassau (NAS)
Paramaribo (PBM)
Quito (UIO)
San Salvador (SAL)
St. Petersburg-Clearwater (PIE)
Toronto/Pearson (YYZ)

https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/07/ar ... -destinos/

They are doing some chartered services to Honduras (SAP and XPL) for soccer national teams

drdisque · Tue Jul 05, 2022 10:55 pm

Humberside wrote:
drdisque wrote:
I wasn't aware PIE had a working FIS for passenger flights

PIE has had low frequency Canada service at least seasonally for some years, currently with Swoop but I think for quite a few years it was with Sunwing

good point. Swoop flies to YHM which doesn't have Preclearance.

deltadudejg · Tue Jul 05, 2022 11:38 pm

drdisque wrote:
Their Daily services are solid. I question some of their 2x weekly's.

I wasn't aware PIE had a working FIS for passenger flights
I don't see there being enough demand for FDF, PBM, GCM or GDL.

PIE's FIS was refurbished and brought up to standard prior to COVID.

usflyer msp · Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:59 am

I don't see that point of flying to SFB and PIE instead of MCO and TPA. International travellers are interested in primary airports, especially foreign point of sale. neither MCO nor TPA are particularly high cost airports so it seems like they are giving up alot of revenue generation potential to save a miniscule amount of money in airport costs.

hpff · Wed Jul 06, 2022 9:00 am

ScottB wrote:
A388 wrote:
AraJet wants to connect all these cities with each other so you mustn't look at it per destination. If CUN to MIA fills up 40% of the airplane on a certain flight, UIO filling 20%, GYE 10%, all the other smaller cities can fill up the remainder of the airplane. That's how Copa works and all other airlines actually. If that 3% of passengers from FDF can fill that last part of the airplane's capacity, it will work so you mustn't blindly look at FDF to MIA alone, the airplanes are filled by several cities of course. This also goes the other way around. I think these smaller cities they want to serve are cities which are barely getting any flights so that might work to their advantage.

I get that, which is why I said, "Unless they're going to be connecting passengers from FLL/JFK/SFB/PIE/YYZ at SDQ..." 2x weekly to a bunch of destinations isn't enough frequency to have an operation like CM which relies on connecting many points across the Americas. You're not going to realistically connect passengers between spokes which operate on different days.

Personally, I think you'd have to be nuts to book a connection on them to a spoke that only operates 2x/week. If you're late out of JFK you might be stuck in SDQ for 3 or 4 days waiting for the next flight.

It will be interesting to see the timetable. Agree connections don't seem all that viable but want to see if they do thru-flights to some of these destinations, ie JFK-SDQ-FDF all on the same plane.

danipawa · Wed Jul 06, 2022 11:35 am

Arajet pretend to connect in SDQ, thats why those strange routes out of DR. And wants to create new markets to the DR: we dont have flights to Central America right now, will be the first time connecting to Salvador, Guatemala and San Jose was cancelled wth TACA/Avianca joined. Several new destinations not just from SDQ but the DR like those destinations at Mexico (Aeromexico fly to MEX from SDQ). New destinations in USA too like PIE, ACY SWF, SFB.

Skycana its in the process of getting their own AOC, so for now the are operating with Century one a lot of charters PUJ-MIA, MIA-SDQ and Cuba. They are wetleasing an 321 to Sunrise Haiti too

Arajet strategy seems to be flying to secundary airports : BLB/PTY, PIE/TPA, SFB/MCO, NLU/MEX..

jmmadrid · Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:12 pm

PTY is another strange route choice. COPA already fly PTY-SDQ 3 times per day, with convenient schedules spread out throughout the day. Passengers originating in PTY don't need to be offered connections to any of the ARAJET destinations as their home airline offers a wider choice of nonstop flights. What kind of passengers are they after? Are they going to be super-cheap and fight COPA on price?

Caribbean007 · Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:28 pm

They have a good plan and can be changed anytime as we see they are adding now to their plan JFK, CUN, 3 other cities in Mexico including and 19 new destinations. Their studies will tell wich one will go first and wich one they wont fly. I can tell you that Delta has Authorized to fly from MCO to SDQ and PUJ but they never do it and Dominican Authorities just cancelled that routes because they didnt fly, so there is not problem with Arajet asking to fly in secundaries airports in USA.

I have seen some one mentioned CM, well my opinion is for now we can not compare or pretend Arajet will start with a lot flights like actually Copa do, in the 90's they flew PTY-SDQ-SJU-SDQ-PTY and that changed while company grew up, Also some of you mentioned that SDQ do not have trafic for some destinations, well Arajet plan to make a Hub so that its not a problem, and for some other routes as example I also can tell that SDQ alone as final destination receive more pax without having a Hub as PTY wich receive less pax as final destination , Copa and Arajet has diferent model of business, ULC point to a diferent part of the cake.

As final comment SDQ has better location than Panama for conecting South, North, Central America and part of the Carribean that can handle big planes, also are using long range airplanes and new, so lets give time to the time and see what its coming.

MEA-707 · Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:32 pm

In theory it can work. Flights in the Caribbean and from north/south America can be very expensive, the COPA/Avianca duopoly doesn't bring down prices much. I can imagine flights like BGI, PBM, GCM, GYE which were mentioned as questionable can be filled up by the flights from NYC, FLL and SFB but only if they arrive within 3-4 hours before.

A388 · Wed Jul 06, 2022 1:01 pm

ScottB wrote:
I get that, which is why I said, "Unless they're going to be connecting passengers from FLL/JFK/SFB/PIE/YYZ at SDQ..." 2x weekly to a bunch of destinations isn't enough frequency to have an operation like CM which relies on connecting many points across the Americas. You're not going to realistically connect passengers between spokes which operate on different days.

Personally, I think you'd have to be nuts to book a connection on them to a spoke that only operates 2x/week. If you're late out of JFK you might be stuck in SDQ for 3 or 4 days waiting for the next flight.

Okay, fair point but AraJet is a start up airline so they can't start with high frequencies, they have to built it up so here's where their on time performance is crucial. Having brand new airplanes already is a good start and the agreement they will have with their ground handlers is also going to be very important. If a connection is missed on those 2 x weekly flights and it is their fault, it is their problem to solve. They will have to either put these stranded passengers on other airlines or pay for their stay in SDQ. CM also has destinations they serve only a few times a week so they have a similar problem with these destinations. Their advantage, however, is that they are part of a big alliance so they have more options to their passengers.

A388

Caribbean007 · Wed Jul 06, 2022 1:59 pm

A388 wrote:
ScottB wrote:
I get that, which is why I said, "Unless they're going to be connecting passengers from FLL/JFK/SFB/PIE/YYZ at SDQ..." 2x weekly to a bunch of destinations isn't enough frequency to have an operation like CM which relies on connecting many points across the Americas. You're not going to realistically connect passengers between spokes which operate on different days.

Personally, I think you'd have to be nuts to book a connection on them to a spoke that only operates 2x/week. If you're late out of JFK you might be stuck in SDQ for 3 or 4 days waiting for the next flight.

Okay, fair point but AraJet is a start up airline so they can't start with high frequencies, they have to built it up so here's where their on time performance is crucial. Having brand new airplanes already is a good start and the agreement they will have with their ground handlers is also going to be very important. If a connection is missed on those 2 x weekly flights and it is their fault, it is their problem to solve. They will have to either put these stranded passengers on other airlines or pay for their stay in SDQ. CM also has destinations they serve only a few times a week so they have a similar problem with these destinations. Their advantage, however, is that they are part of a big alliance so they have more options to their passengers.

A388

Thats Correct, I read an article from Guatemala's embassador in Santo Domingo saying Arajet will have 2 weekly flights into Guatemala, same with El Salvador. Actually the statistic from Salvadorians and Guatemaleans arriving into SDQ shows every moth arrivals over 300 pax almost reaching 400 with prices very close to 1,000.00 dollars rt flight, so that amount can increase very well with cheaper prices as Arajet said will have, that will give also new cheap destinations for Dominicans to Travel. Now Colombia is the cheapest destinations to travel for Dominicans and in the 4 months of this year traveled to Colombia 24,000 dominicans.

Caribbean007 · Wed Jul 06, 2022 2:00 pm

Caribbean007 wrote:
A388 wrote:
ScottB wrote:
I get that, which is why I said, "Unless they're going to be connecting passengers from FLL/JFK/SFB/PIE/YYZ at SDQ..." 2x weekly to a bunch of destinations isn't enough frequency to have an operation like CM which relies on connecting many points across the Americas. You're not going to realistically connect passengers between spokes which operate on different days.

Personally, I think you'd have to be nuts to book a connection on them to a spoke that only operates 2x/week. If you're late out of JFK you might be stuck in SDQ for 3 or 4 days waiting for the next flight.

Okay, fair point but AraJet is a start up airline so they can't start with high frequencies, they have to built it up so here's where their on time performance is crucial. Having brand new airplanes already is a good start and the agreement they will have with their ground handlers is also going to be very important. If a connection is missed on those 2 x weekly flights and it is their fault, it is their problem to solve. They will have to either put these stranded passengers on other airlines or pay for their stay in SDQ. CM also has destinations they serve only a few times a week so they have a similar problem with these destinations. Their advantage, however, is that they are part of a big alliance so they have more options to their passengers.

A388

Thats Correct, I read an article from Guatemala's embassador in Santo Domingo saying Arajet will have 2 weekly flights into Guatemala, same with El Salvador. Actually the statistic from Salvadorians and Guatemaleans arriving into SDQ shows every moth arrivals over 300 pax almost reaching 400 with prices very close to 1,000.00 dollars rt flight, so that amount can increase very well with cheaper prices as Arajet said will have, that will give also new cheap destinations for Dominicans to Travel. Now Colombia is the cheapest destinations to travel for Dominicans and in the first 4 months of this year traveled to Colombia 24,000 dominicans.

nkops · Fri Jul 08, 2022 10:02 pm

When is this airline supposed to be up and running?

F9Animal · Fri Jul 08, 2022 10:54 pm

Could Arajet also take advantage of the cruise industry? I would imagine with the amount of cruise ships going to the islands, they could easily get some of that traffic?

phugoid1982 · Fri Jul 08, 2022 11:17 pm

einsteinboricua wrote:

SDQ-SJU on a 737 is likely overkill. When AA had a hub, it let OW handle the SJU-SDQ segment with ATRs. I don't recall there being any 737/757 flights between both cities (maybe back in the long ago, a 727 might have flown between both cities). B6 normally sends the E190, but I see that an A320 is still sent to SJU, though I wonder if it's just a direct SDQ-XXX pairing, with SJU serving as the stop.

For this airline, I'd be very shocked if they decide to send the Max to SJU and then on to a city already served by other many carriers. Now, get an E175 fleet and I can definitely see SJU service, especially given the many Dominicans settled in the island.

Actually back when AA had the SJU hub in the 90s they used to run at least 1 daily A-300 from SJU-SDQ. They also ran an A-300 to STT although when I flew it it was an ATR and I think by the mid to late 90s it was downgauged to a 757. I miss the PR aviation scene from that time and making the two hour trek to SJU from Mayaguez to spot from the Aeroparque when "exotic" airlines like KLM and Lufthansa and BA were sending their metal.

Caribbean007 · Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:30 pm

nkops wrote:
When is this airline supposed to be up and running?

They said late July will start sales and plan to fly by sept.

SJOtoLIR · Mon Jul 11, 2022 5:26 pm

asuflyer wrote:
Arajet will launch 23 destinations between July of this year and January 2023. The dates of launch were not yet listed and flights are not yet in the GDS. The airline already has 3 737MAX8's on property

From Santo Domingo (SDQ)

Daily services to
Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
New York (JFK)
Orlando/Sanford (SFB)

5 weekly to
Panama City (PTY)

2 weekly to
Barranquilla (BAQ)
Bridgetown (BGI)
Cancún (CUN)
Cartagena (CTG)
Fort-de-France (FDF)
Georgetown (GEO)
Grand Cayman (GCM)
Guadalajara (GDL)
Guayaquil (GYE)
Kingston (KIN)
Montego Bay (MBJ)
Monterrey (MTY)
Mexico City (MEX)
Nassau (NAS)
Paramaribo (PBM)
Quito (UIO)
San Salvador (SAL)
St. Petersburg-Clearwater (PIE)
Toronto/Pearson (YYZ)

I have my doubts, in terms of the demand of passengers about the following routes operated on the almost 200-seater Boeing 737-MAX:

SDQ-GCM 2x weekly
SDQ-BGI 2x weekly
SDQ-FDF 2x weekly

I'm questioning if the market really provides enough passengers to make the mentioned routes profitable.
The larger planes for some inner Caribbean routes are usually operated in turbo-prop planes, like the ATR-72 and ATR-42.
We can actually find smaller planes like the Embraer EMB 120ER Brasilia, de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and so on.

Regards.

nkops · Sun Aug 07, 2022 3:57 pm

Looks like they finally updated their website a little

caribny · Sun Aug 07, 2022 6:37 pm

ScottB wrote:
drdisque wrote:
Their Daily services are solid. I question some of their 2x weekly's.

I wasn't aware PIE had a working FIS for passenger flights
I don't see there being enough demand for FDF, PBM, GCM or GDL.

I don't think most of their 2x weekly flights make any sense. Unless they're going to be connecting passengers from FLL/JFK/SFB/PIE/YYZ at SDQ, I can't see how there's anywhere near enough demand to fill a CRJ, let alone a 737MAX, to BGI/CUN/FDF/GEO/GCM/GYE/KIN/MBJ/NAS/PBM/UIO. There's not a whole lot of cultural connection between the D.R. and the English-/French-/Dutch-speaking countries of the Caribbean/northern South America, and little need to leave for a beach vacation if you're already in Cancun. I really don't get why they'd go to GYE and UIO instead of much larger potential markets like BOG or LIM.

There are increasing cultural ties between SDQ and other points in the Caribbean. Dominican communities exist in these spaces. Sky High as an example runs 2x weekly SDQ SKB and over the past few weeks even upgraded from the E145 to the E190. The issue is that these routes are suitable for Sky High with their smaller planes, and not for Arajet. SkyHigh also has flights to EIS, AXA, SXM, ANU, AUA, BON, CUR, FDF and PTP.

asuflyer · Sun Aug 07, 2022 11:24 pm

Tomorrow on 8/8 Arajet is expected to officially announce the start dates of the first destinations and commence sales.

https://twitter.com/AraJetAirlines/stat ... 8906855424

asuflyer · Mon Aug 08, 2022 12:29 am

Arajet’s first destinations have been officially listed. There will be an announcement on 8/8. It appears the airline will announce its US destinations at a later point when those go on sale. IMHO I wish them good luck, some of these will likely be winners BOG/MEX-SDQ, some of them seem somewhat of a stretch to fill a 737, like SXM and CTG for example.

Initial destinations all from SDQ are:

AUA
BAQ
BOG
CLO
CTG
CUN
CUR
GUA
GYE
KIN
LIM
MEX
MTY
SAL
SJO
SXM
UIO
YUL
YYZ

https://www.arajet.com/es/destinations

chepos · Mon Aug 08, 2022 12:43 am

Some of these seem like a pipe dream, who all is going to fill a 737 sized aircraft between MTY and SDQ? GUA? Their best bet is start with cities with actual demand, NYC, SJU, MIA, MCO, CCS, BOG, etc and go from there. Best of luck them.

phatfarmlines · Mon Aug 08, 2022 2:55 am

asuflyer wrote:
Arajet’s first destinations have been officially listed. There will be an announcement on 8/8. It appears the airline will announce its US destinations at a later point when those go on sale. IMHO I wish them good luck, some of these will likely be winners BOG/MEX-SDQ, some of them seem somewhat of a stretch to fill a 737, like SXM and CTG for example.

Initial destinations all from SDQ are:

AUA
BAQ
BOG
CLO
CTG
CUN
CUR
GUA
GYE
KIN
LIM
MEX
MTY
SAL
SJO
SXM
UIO
YUL
YYZ

https://www.arajet.com/es/destinations

Best of luck to Arajet. This list only makes sense if they are attracting demand to DR for leisure travel. The intra-Caribbean destinations seem like alot of capacity.

nkops · Mon Aug 08, 2022 10:23 am

I am really surprised there are no US cities to start.. wish them the best of luck

dmanonice · Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:36 am

If priced & timed correctly, I could see an Icelandair style operation where SDQ becomes a connecting hub in the Caribbean rather than a strictly O&D or leisure oriented carrier.

avi8 · Mon Aug 08, 2022 12:07 pm

I have family at GUA, so I always root for new service there. However, I seriously question if demand is sufficient to fill up a 737. I guess we will wait and see. I wish Arajet the best of luck!

ahj2000 · Mon Aug 08, 2022 3:39 pm

dmanonice wrote:
If priced & timed correctly, I could see an Icelandair style operation where SDQ becomes a connecting hub in the Caribbean rather than a strictly O&D or leisure oriented carrier.

Timed correctly is the issue. aren’t most (all?) of the routes sub-daily right now?

phatfarmlines · Mon Aug 08, 2022 4:42 pm

ahj2000 wrote:
dmanonice wrote:
If priced & timed correctly, I could see an Icelandair style operation where SDQ becomes a connecting hub in the Caribbean rather than a strictly O&D or leisure oriented carrier.

Timed correctly is the issue. aren’t most (all?) of the routes sub-daily right now?

Infrastructure is the other big one. SDQ's facilities are not set up for hub operations.

If only Puerto Rico ever became independent, there are facilities available that would make SJU more viable as a scissor hub a la PTY.

sfojvjets · Mon Aug 08, 2022 6:43 pm

I am not from the Caribbean and am unfamiliar with the region, but is there a specific reason that Arajet chose SDQ over PUJ? As someone who is from the US West Coast, Punta Cana is a well-known and high-profile destination because of tourism. However, Santo Domingo seems relatively unknown and is more for VFR from what I understand. So who exactly are they targeting? VFR O&D passengers or leisure connecting passengers?

chepos · Mon Aug 08, 2022 6:59 pm

sfojvjets wrote:
I am not from the Caribbean and am unfamiliar with the region, but is there a specific reason that Arajet chose SDQ over PUJ? As someone who is from the US West Coast, Punta Cana is a well-known and high-profile destination because of tourism. However, Santo Domingo seems relatively unknown and is more for VFR from what I understand. So who exactly are they targeting? VFR O&D passengers or leisure connecting passengers?

In addition to connecting traffic I guess they want to also attract the local Dominican market (VFR travel), which is better served out of SDQ (or STI to a smaller extent). If they wanted to cater to tourist going to DR they would have gone to PUJ). Neither airport has the infrastructure for a connecting hub at the moment.

oceanbeat · Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:40 pm

Flights are open for sale with fares $1 USD and $5 USD fares plus taxes and fuel surcharge (15USD to 70 USD)

Caribbean007 · Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:10 pm

chepos wrote:
sfojvjets wrote:
I am not from the Caribbean and am unfamiliar with the region, but is there a specific reason that Arajet chose SDQ over PUJ? As someone who is from the US West Coast, Punta Cana is a well-known and high-profile destination because of tourism. However, Santo Domingo seems relatively unknown and is more for VFR from what I understand. So who exactly are they targeting? VFR O&D passengers or leisure connecting passengers?

In addition to connecting traffic I guess they want to also attract the local Dominican market (VFR travel), which is better served out of SDQ (or STI to a smaller extent). If they wanted to cater to tourist going to DR they would have gone to PUJ). Neither airport has the infrastructure for a connecting hub at the moment.

SDQ has some airlines doing Connections like RED Air is Connecting passengers from Venzuela to MIA, and Skyhigh also has some routes conecting, InterCaribbean do conections in SDQ too.

And yes, they plan to serve local and tourism market, and the best airport for that is SDQ.

Caribbean007 · Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:12 pm

Caribbean007 wrote:
chepos wrote:
sfojvjets wrote:
I am not from the Caribbean and am unfamiliar with the region, but is there a specific reason that Arajet chose SDQ over PUJ? As someone who is from the US West Coast, Punta Cana is a well-known and high-profile destination because of tourism. However, Santo Domingo seems relatively unknown and is more for VFR from what I understand. So who exactly are they targeting? VFR O&D passengers or leisure connecting passengers?

In addition to connecting traffic I guess they want to also attract the local Dominican market (VFR travel), which is better served out of SDQ (or STI to a smaller extent). If they wanted to cater to tourist going to DR they would have gone to PUJ). Neither airport has the infrastructure for a connecting hub at the moment.

SDQ has some airlines doing Connections like RED Air is Connecting passengers from Venzuela to MIA, and Skyhigh also has some routes conecting, InterCaribbean do conections in SDQ too.

And yes, they plan to serve local and tourism market, and the best airport for that is SDQ.

Dominican Pax living in DR using PUJ its less than 1%

lesfalls · Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:45 am

Anyone know which route will be the first and when it will start?

Caribbean007 · Wed Aug 10, 2022 7:27 pm

lesfalls wrote:
Anyone know which route will be the first and when it will start?

SDQ-AUA
SDQ-CUR
SDQ-CLO
SDQ-CTG
SDQ-BAQ
SDQ-SXM
SDQ-NLU
SDQ-MTY
SDQ-LIM
SDQ-SJO
SDQ-SAL

In preparation
SDQ-YUL
SDQ-YYZ
SDQ-UIO
SDQ-GYE
SDQ-KIN
SDQ-BOG
SDQ-MDE

First routes do not have conections yet, but they are planning to do it soon.

the webpage is http://www.arajet.com

chepos · Wed Aug 10, 2022 7:30 pm

lesfalls wrote:
Anyone know which route will be the first and when it will start?

BAQ is supposed to be the first route.

Caribbean007 · Wed Aug 10, 2022 7:47 pm

chepos wrote:
lesfalls wrote:
Anyone know which route will be the first and when it will start?

BAQ is supposed to be the first route.

Me and 3 other friends booked SDQ-GUA-SDQ to travel in october, lets see how will be their service, and yes BAQ is planning for Sept 15

adnoguez · Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:58 pm

I just noticed this new airline and from the mexican market standpoint it's a disaster.

1. Mexico City: NLU it's a new airport and has been struggling to attract passengers, even popular routes to MTY or GDL have sub par loads.
2. MTY it's an odd choice, since the airport has a weak international market.
3. Why SDQ? AM flies daily from MEX and only manages to fill 2/3rds of an E190... and suddenly Arajet brings a MAX8??
4. No connections offered on its website

Mexico to Dominicana might work on a seasonal basis to PUJ and that's it, SDQ it's not that attractive for the average mexican tourist, and I might add that the current schedule does not help since the flight out of SDQ it's too early in the morning.

superjeff · Thu Aug 11, 2022 11:52 pm

robleroy121721 wrote:
jjbiv wrote:
Could you please provide a reference for the assertion that rights are needed for a domestic air carrier to fly a US domestic route? Thank you.

In all honesty, my point is based on what we're being taught in University. In my case, I already took the class, so I decided to contact a couple of my professors to verify this information. So far, one responded saying that the subject does require deep research (which I can't really do right now due to a detailed, class project on establishing an airline under the 14 CFR 135).

I did inquire with the professor who taught us that. Mind you, English is not her native tongue so she might've said something and I misunderstood it. But as far as we're concerned, some airlines do hold rights to some domestic routes. I'm still waiting on her reply.

A thread back from 2003 did give a link to where one could find this information but it's dead now, unfortunately. It really could have been useful now

Nevertheless, we can still see some examples on how the government has sway over approving certain routes like SJU-DCA, LGA-SJU, SEA-DCA, all of which are outside of the perimeter rule and some are limited to operate on certain days. Add to that the curfews, slot systems and noise abatement procedures like in SNA.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/f ... /80300348/

https://www.nysun.com/editorials/long-d ... rdia/18053

And of course, the KDAL restrictions lifted years ago. As I said, most of the routes are free to operate and only a bare minimum remain, which is why it's so hard to find which routes are specifically under rights. However, if anyone can correct me on this, they're welcome to. I honestly don't know if my former profesor will reply to my e-mail since I'm no longer one of her students.

U.S. airlines can fly domestic U.S. routes. A few airports are slot constrained (JFK, LGA, DCA, for example) and some politically restrained (SNA, DAL) but that has nothing to do with anything else.

robleroy121721 · Fri Aug 12, 2022 12:30 am

superjeff wrote:
robleroy121721 wrote:
jjbiv wrote:
Could you please provide a reference for the assertion that rights are needed for a domestic air carrier to fly a US domestic route? Thank you.

In all honesty, my point is based on what we're being taught in University. In my case, I already took the class, so I decided to contact a couple of my professors to verify this information. So far, one responded saying that the subject does require deep research (which I can't really do right now due to a detailed, class project on establishing an airline under the 14 CFR 135).

I did inquire with the professor who taught us that. Mind you, English is not her native tongue so she might've said something and I misunderstood it. But as far as we're concerned, some airlines do hold rights to some domestic routes. I'm still waiting on her reply.

A thread back from 2003 did give a link to where one could find this information but it's dead now, unfortunately. It really could have been useful now

Nevertheless, we can still see some examples on how the government has sway over approving certain routes like SJU-DCA, LGA-SJU, SEA-DCA, all of which are outside of the perimeter rule and some are limited to operate on certain days. Add to that the curfews, slot systems and noise abatement procedures like in SNA.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/f ... /80300348/

https://www.nysun.com/editorials/long-d ... rdia/18053

And of course, the KDAL restrictions lifted years ago. As I said, most of the routes are free to operate and only a bare minimum remain, which is why it's so hard to find which routes are specifically under rights. However, if anyone can correct me on this, they're welcome to. I honestly don't know if my former profesor will reply to my e-mail since I'm no longer one of her students.

U.S. airlines can fly domestic U.S. routes. A few airports are slot constrained (JFK, LGA, DCA, for example) and some politically restrained (SNA, DAL) but that has nothing to do with anything else.

C'mon, man, it's been almost a year; let it rest :lol:

Caribbean007 · Sun Aug 21, 2022 1:35 am

adnoguez wrote:
I just noticed this new airline and from the mexican market standpoint it's a disaster.

1. Mexico City: NLU it's a new airport and has been struggling to attract passengers, even popular routes to MTY or GDL have sub par loads.
2. MTY it's an odd choice, since the airport has a weak international market.
3. Why SDQ? AM flies daily from MEX and only manages to fill 2/3rds of an E190... and suddenly Arajet brings a MAX8??
4. No connections offered on its website

Mexico to Dominicana might work on a seasonal basis to PUJ and that's it, SDQ it's not that attractive for the average mexican tourist, and I might add that the current schedule does not help since the flight out of SDQ it's too early in the morning.

1.- MEX is not aproving new routes to old or new airlines.
2.-MTY I’m sure they should have an study that are offering this route and about the connectios they are working to do it when launch new routes at the end of the year.
3.-AM load factor to SDQ it’s 68% because Copa and Avianca has better prices, their fares are always arround 900.00 dollars while Copa is around 700.00. Statistic for July 2022 arrivals to SDQ from Mexico is 2,500 pax.
4.- You says SDQ it’s not atractive to Mexicans but looks like that AM thinks diferent they fly daily and didn’t close the route.

Caribbean007 · Sun Aug 21, 2022 1:57 am

Caribbean007 wrote:
adnoguez wrote:
I just noticed this new airline and from the mexican market standpoint it's a disaster.

1. Mexico City: NLU it's a new airport and has been struggling to attract passengers, even popular routes to MTY or GDL have sub par loads.
2. MTY it's an odd choice, since the airport has a weak international market.
3. Why SDQ? AM flies daily from MEX and only manages to fill 2/3rds of an E190... and suddenly Arajet brings a MAX8??
4. No connections offered on its website

Mexico to Dominicana might work on a seasonal basis to PUJ and that's it, SDQ it's not that attractive for the average mexican tourist, and I might add that the current schedule does not help since the flight out of SDQ it's too early in the morning.

1.- MEX is not aproving new routes to old or new airlines.
2.-MTY I’m sure they should have an study that are offering this route and about the connectios they are working to do it when launch new routes at the end of the year.
3.-AM load factor to SDQ it’s 68% because Copa and Avianca has better prices, their fares are always arround 900.00 dollars while Copa is around 700.00. Statistic for July 2022 arrivals to SDQ feom Mexico is 2,500 pax.
4.- You says SDQ it’s not atractive to Mexicans but looks like that AM thinks diferent they fly daily and didn’t close the route.

nickpo · Mon Aug 22, 2022 4:36 pm

Caribbean007 wrote:
lesfalls wrote:
Anyone know which route will be the first and when it will start?

SDQ-AUA
SDQ-CUR
SDQ-CLO
SDQ-CTG
SDQ-BAQ
SDQ-SXM
SDQ-NLU
SDQ-MTY
SDQ-LIM
SDQ-SJO
SDQ-SAL

In preparation
SDQ-YUL
SDQ-YYZ
SDQ-UIO
SDQ-GYE
SDQ-KIN
SDQ-BOG
SDQ-MDE

First routes do not have conections yet, but they are planning to do it soon.

the webpage is http://www.arajet.com

Rare to see that SDQ-MDE is taking that long to prepare. I understand BOG because is slot restricted and is difficult to find an slot, but MDE is not, and is under the same situation than CLO, BAQ and CTG, which are already published. I think they are thinking twice if they want to operate SDQ-MDE or not and its because the competitors, Wingo just launched the route, and Viva has a very strong position at MDE.

Caribbean007 · Mon Aug 22, 2022 8:29 pm

nickpo wrote:
Caribbean007 wrote:
lesfalls wrote:
Anyone know which route will be the first and when it will start?

SDQ-AUA
SDQ-CUR
SDQ-CLO
SDQ-CTG
SDQ-BAQ
SDQ-SXM
SDQ-NLU
SDQ-MTY
SDQ-LIM
SDQ-SJO
SDQ-SAL

In preparation
SDQ-YUL
SDQ-YYZ
SDQ-UIO
SDQ-GYE
SDQ-KIN
SDQ-BOG
SDQ-MDE

First routes do not have conections yet, but they are planning to do it soon.

the webpage is http://www.arajet.com

Rare to see that SDQ-MDE is taking that long to prepare. I understand BOG because is slot restricted and is difficult to find an slot, but MDE is not, and is under the same situation than CLO, BAQ and CTG, which are already published. I think they are thinking twice if they want to operate SDQ-MDE or not and its because the competitors, Wingo just launched the route, and Viva has a very strong position at MDE.

My understand on what I can see in the most of the routes they are launching are not well served from SDQ, with the next group they will laund said are also working preparing the connections.

windian425 · Mon Aug 22, 2022 9:05 pm

Caribbean007 wrote:
lesfalls wrote:
Anyone know which route will be the first and when it will start?

SDQ-AUA
SDQ-CUR
SDQ-CLO
SDQ-CTG
SDQ-BAQ
SDQ-SXM
SDQ-NLU
SDQ-MTY
SDQ-LIM
SDQ-SJO
SDQ-SAL

In preparation
SDQ-YUL
SDQ-YYZ
SDQ-UIO
SDQ-GYE
SDQ-KIN
SDQ-BOG
SDQ-MDE

First routes do not have conections yet, but they are planning to do it soon.

the webpage is http://www.arajet.com

I believe that SDQ-POS-SDQ has already started, not sure if they are scheduled or charter but they have started.

TriniA340 · Wed Aug 24, 2022 11:02 am

windian425 wrote:
I believe that SDQ-POS-SDQ has already started, not sure if they are scheduled or charter but they have started.

It's POP-POS, but only a few charter flights for the holidays.

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