JetBlue?s CEO, David Neeleman explained, in an interview with El Caribe newspaper, the reasons why the company chose the Dominican Republic as their first foreign destination. ?We are a New York-based company and there is a large Dominican community in New York. We were aware that we had to take that large Dominican public,? he explained. He said that many Dominicans are JetBlue employees and would always talk up the possibility of a DR-bound flight. ?Thus, both Santo Domingo and Santiago are two very important cities for us,? he explained.
He is optimistic about the JFK flights begun on 10 June to the Santiago airport and 17 June to Santo Domingo. He said that they started the San Juan, Puerto Rico flight with two flights a day and now offer six daily flights to that city and another to Aguadilla, or seven flights a day to Puerto Rico. He expects a similar success for the Dominican flights ? initially three a day.
He feels in addition to serving the Dominican community in the US, the flights also serve the increasing number of US tourists that are choosing to vacation in the DR.