Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Saturday, 24 December 2022, 14:15 by Denis Chabrol
The Director-General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Retired Lt Col. Egbert Field has confirmed that the Dominican Republic-headquartered low-cost airline, Arajet, is interested in adding Guyana to its routes.
He said the carrier wrote the GCAA last month asking about the procedures and requirements for serving the Guyana market.
Lt. Col. Field’s confirmation came after Arajet on December 14 applied to the Dominican Republic Civil Aviation Board (JAC) to expand its network with more destinations in the Caribbean, South America and Central America.
Aviacion Online reported that Arajet wants to compete with the well-established COPA Airlines which serves Guyana and numerous Latin American routes. “The company’s intention is to establish a continental hub in Santo Domingo to serve as a counterweight to Copa Airlines’ hub in Panama and Viva’s incipient hub in Medellín,” the report states.
Arajet wants to fly to several Brazilian destinations- Manaus, Rio de Janeiro; Sao Paulo- as well as Honduras, Belize, Barbados, Trinidad, and Guyana.
Arajet will be subject to a public hearing in the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic on January 4, 2023 for approval by the aviation authority.
The new destinations will be part of Arajet’s expansion process in 2023, once it receives new aircraft. The low-cost carrier initially operates five brand new Boeing 737-8s, making it the third Caribbean carrier to own one of the Boeing 737 MAX models after Cayman Airways and Caribbean Airlines.
In March, during its presentation, Arajet had also surprised by announcing the acquisition of twenty Boeing 737-8200 «Gamechanger» with an option to purchase a further fifteen aircraft, to be delivered over the next few years to meet anticipated demand.
Arajet’s current network
The company operates in Aruba, Colombia (Barranquilla, Bogota, Cali, Cartagena, Medellin), Costa Rica, Curacao, Ecuador (Guayaquil and Quito), El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica (Kingston), Mexico (Mexico City, Cancun and Monterrey), Peru (Lima) and St. Maarten.
Since November 2021 it has been authorized to fly to 30 destinations, half of which are already in operation.
It is expected to generate more than 4,000 direct jobs and some 40,000 indirect jobs over the next five years, of which it expects to transport some 7 million passengers per year, thus becoming the largest airline in the history of the Dominican Republic.