Dominican Republic carrier Arajet operated its first flight to the U.S. on April 11, kicking off service between Las Américas International Airport (SDQ) in Santo Domingo and Miami International Airport (MIA).
Arajet, founded in 2022, aims to turn SDQ into a “new hub of the Americas” enabling one-stop connections between North and South America, similar to the model Panama’s Copa Airlines has deployed in Panama City. Key to this strategy is serving the U.S., which was made possible with the finalization of a Dominican-U.S. open skies agreement in December 2024.
The SDQ-MIA service will be operated 4X-weekly with a Boeing 737-8 aircraft. Arajet said it plans to boost the service over the northern hemisphere summer to daily and also begin flights to MIA from Punta Cana, though a start date for that route has not been announced.
The airline will launch two more U.S. routes in June. Flights between SDQ and San Juan, Puerto Rico, will open on June 4. Service between SDQ and Newark will commence on June 16. Both routes will be flown 4X-weekly with 737-8 aircraft.
“This is a historic moment for Arajet and for the entire Dominican Republic,” CEO Víctor Pacheco said in a statement. “This first flight to Miami, the capital of Latin America, is just the beginning of our commitment to offering efficient and more affordable travel for our passengers. Connecting this city as the beginning for North America will promote tourism and business and cultural exchanges between both nations.”
Pacheco previously told Aviation Week that “Arajet envisions transforming the Dominican Republic into a premier connecting hub of the Americas and democratizing the region’s skies through lower fares and optionality. The Dominican Republic’s strategic location … allows for convenient connectivity throughout the region.”
The airline has said it is eyeing a host of potential U.S. destinations, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
In addition to Santo Domingo and Punta Cana, Arajet is also eyeing potential U.S. flights from the Dominican city Santiago de Los Caballeros.
Pacheco told Aviation Week’s Window Seat podcast that the Dominican-U.S. open skies agreement is vital to the carrier’s prospects. “Without open skies, you have an airline that is fighting only with one hand,” he said. “We always expected that the U.S. would be part of our strategy much sooner, but now that it's here, we are ready to grow.”
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