JetBlue Airways is to introduce its first route to the Dominican Republic from Newark Liberty International Airport with a regular link to Santiago from May 1, 2014. The carrier, which describes itself as New York’s hometown airline, has its primary presence at the city’s John F Kennedy International Airport but also serves seven destinations from Newark: Boston; Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood; Fort Myers; Orlando; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Tampa; and West Palm Beach.

This will mark the return of direct air services between Newark and Santiago and will end the monopoly of United Airlines on flights from the New Jersey airport to the Dominican Republic, the ninth largest economy in Latin America and the second largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region. United currently offers flights to Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Santo Domingo and it was its predecessor Continental Airlines that last served Santiago, ending its daily link in September 2008.

"This new service will help reconnect families and friends with fares designed to inspire more travel," said Robin Hayes, president, JetBlue Airways. "New Jersey is home to the second largest Dominican population in the US after New York, so eliminating the need to cross two rivers in order to get to the airport is significant time savings for our customers."

JetBlue this summer celebrates ten years of serving the Dominican Republic, located on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean. It first introduced flights to the country in June 2004 with links to Santiago and Santo Domingo from its New York base but now serves six destinations with a network of 14 routes from the US and Puerto Rico. Alongside New York it now also serves Santiago from Boston and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

According to MIDT data, an estimated 89,000 bi-directional O&D passengers travelled between Newark and Santiago when the route was last served by Continental Airlines in 2008. In previous years annual scheduled demand had reached as high as 126,000 passengers, but has now fallen to below 1,000 with the absence of direct air services.

Over the course of the last ten years, JetBlue has established itself as the largest operator in the Dominican Republic market. According to this month’s schedule data it has a 22.6 per cent share of departures and an 18.2 per cent share of the available capacity from the country. Its closest rival, Delta Air Lines, has just a 9.7 per cent share of departures and 9.2 per cent of capacity.