A low-cost carrier barely four years old has just nudged past some of the biggest names in aviation. New figures from the Dominican Republic's Civil Aviation Board show Arajet carried 158,407 passengers in September 2026 — not counting connecting traffic — making it the country's second-largest airline by passenger numbers, behind only JetBlue.

The JAC data puts JetBlue on top with 243,955 passengers for the month, but Arajet's 62% jump compared with September 2025 (when it carried 97,797) was enough to leapfrog Copa Airlines (122,220), American Airlines (115,406), Delta (94,763) and United (94,288). Include connecting passengers, and the airline says its September total actually reached 180,841.

So where are all these passengers going? The United States is Arajet's biggest market, with 43,021 passengers in September, followed by Colombia (35,413) and Argentina (21,164). Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru, Brazil and Canada fill out the list. The busiest single routes were Bogotá (18,413 passengers), Newark in the New York area (16,952) and Buenos Aires (16,025), with Miami, Medellín, Mexico City's Santa Lucía airport, San Juan, Lima and São Paulo close behind.

For Arajet's CEO and founder Víctor Pacheco, the numbers are proof that a homegrown Dominican airline can go toe-to-toe with the global majors. Since launching in 2022, the carrier has built its growth on cheap fares and a hub strategy: funnelling travellers between North, South and Central America via Santo Domingo. Pacheco argues the country has the potential to become one of the region's leading connectivity platforms, bringing more visitors, trade and investment along the way.

Why does this matter if you're planning a Caribbean trip? Practically, it means more competition and more routes into and out of the Dominican Republic — and competition usually means lower prices. If you're in the US, Colombia or Argentina, there's a decent chance Arajet now flies a direct route to Santo Domingo that didn't exist a few years ago, often at fares well below the legacy carriers. It also makes the Dominican Republic a more interesting stopover option rather than just a beach destination: the airline's model is explicitly built around connecting passengers through its Santo Domingo base, so pairing, say, Bogotá with a Punta Cana break on a single itinerary is getting easier and cheaper.

The takeaway for travellers: keep Arajet in the mix when pricing flights to the Caribbean. It's now firmly the number two player in the Dominican market, and its route map — from Newark to Buenos Aires to São Paulo — is expanding fast enough that fares across the board are feeling the pressure.