An airline from the Dominican Republic has just placed a huge order for the Boeing 737 MAX.
An airline from the Dominican Republic has ordered a 737 MAX
New Caribbean airline Arajet has announced a major order for the Boeing 737 MAX. The airline has announced a firm order for 20 aircraft and options for 15 additional aircraft, in addition to existing lease agreements for five aircraft.
This order was actually completed in January but was attributed to an unidentified customer. Now it turns out that this client is Arajet.
Arajet’s large order for the Boeing 737 MAX is for the 737 MAX 8-200, which is the maximum capacity version of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. Specifically, the “-200” at the end means that the plane has extra exits, allowing the plane to show even more seats. To give you an idea of what to expect on board, Ryanair has become the first customer for the Boeing 737 MAX 8-200.
Here is how Victor Pacheco Mendez, the founder of Arajet, describes this development:
“The efficient Boeing 737 MAX, together with the financial and operational support of our partners Griffin and Bain Capital, gives us the solid foundation we need to provide affordable flights to travelers in the region. These partners believe in our vision and see the same bright future for this market and beyond. The entire team was thrilled to see our first aircraft arrive in Santo Domingo a few days ago and we are looking forward to expanding our fleet with some great new aircraft in the coming months.”
What is Aradjet?
I hadn’t written about Arajet before because I wasn’t sure how serious the airline was at startup scale until now. Given such a large order for the aircraft, it is clear that people are serious about launching this airline.
Arajet is a new airline based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The airline hopes to fly to underserved markets in the US, Brazil, Colombia and elsewhere. The airline will be using an ultra low cost carrier business model, so it is clear that Arajet is trying to compete on price, not product. Given the location of the Dominican Republic, it is possible that the airline will take a US Cup style approach and try to use Santo Domingo as a link between other regions.
The Boeing 737 MAX is certainly an excellent aircraft in terms of efficiency and for an airline looking for low operating costs. Arajet has already received its first (leased) Boeing 737 MAX, which arrived in Santo Domingo in early March.
It remains to be seen exactly which routes Arajet plans to operate on, as the airline has yet to reveal destinations or exact dates for launching commercial flights.
bottom line
Airline startup Arajet has placed a major order for the Boeing 737 MAX. An airline from the Dominican Republic plans to fly these aircraft to North and South America using an ultra-low cost business model. It’s always nice to see new low-cost airlines in countries that don’t have a large domestic aviation industry, which is why I’m rooting for Arajet.
What do you think of Arajet’s Boeing 737 MAX order?