AirTran seeks rights to serve Dominican Republic

AirTran has apllied to the DOT to serve the Dominican Republic from any point in the US. The carrier is seeking to serve the Caribbean Island with low frequency routes and will face competition from the US with the Dominican Republic being a heavy leisure and VFR market.

The leading carriers flying between the US and the Dominican Republic are American Airlines with 114 weekly flights and Jetblue with 113 weekly flights. Jetblue has focused heaviily on growing the Domincan Republic market, and indeed the Caribbean since American pulled its Eagle operations in San Juan. The leading route is JFK to Santiago with Jetblue operating 35 weekly flights.