TORONTO — Seemingly everyone is flocking to Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival right now, and Arajet is no exception, touching down to catch a screening of Pepe from Dominican producer Nelson Carlos de Los Santos Arias.

Arajet’s Chief Communications and External Affairs Officer, Manuel Luna, was onboard and took a minute to sit down with Travelweek to deliver the latest news. This month the airline is marking its second anniversary since inception and next month its one-year anniversary of flying to Canada.

While the film didn’t always make the most sense, Arajet’s message regarding its initial success was clear: “We are delighted with how Arajet is doing in Canada and every market that it’s flying to, and the numbers are looking really good moving forward,” said Luna.

He added: “We have sold over 125,000 tickets in Canada already with only three flights a week. The company will finish this year with around 1.3 million passengers. These are very good numbers for a young airline with a growing fleet.”

The biggest news to note, starting Nov. 1 there will be some route changes. “We are opening a new base in Punta Cana, so flights from Toronto and Montreal will be to Punta Cana. Those who still wish to connect to Santo Domingo can do so via a two-hour bus ride straight from Punta Cana airport. We found over 80% of passengers from Canada were going to Punta Cana anyway and were taking the bus from Santo Domingo.”

Arajet’s fleet currently sits at 10 aircraft, with the latest received two months ago. It’s scheduled to receive five more next year. The airline is currently working very hard to add the U.S. as a new destination next year.

In the future, Arajet would like to expand to Vancouver and Calgary, but this is a long-term goal. Arajet doesn’t pay commission but Luna says there are travel agencies that have agreements with Arajet.

As Arajet works to build a hub in the D.R., Luna noted that “half of our passengers from Canada don’t go to the D.R. They go to Brazil, Argentina and islands in the Caribbean. We are also having great success flying many passengers from all over South America and the Caribbean to Canada.

“We aim to give world-class service with the lowest price possible. Our flights have shown an excellent record for arriving on time, plus we’re flying new aircraft with the fleet being the youngest in the Americas. As we’re backed by Bain Capital, passengers can book with confidence,” Luna concluded. And that’s a wrap.

 For more information, visit Arajet.com/en.