40 Minutes, Two Aisles: Air Caraïbes Adds A Tiny A350 Hop Inside the Dominican Republic
ID 129254323 | Air Caraibes © Mike Fuchslocher | Dreamstime.com
Starting this winter, Air Caraïbes will add a triangular widebody service: Paris Orly (ORY) – Samaná (AZS) – Santo Domingo (SDQ) – Paris Orly. The novelty is the domestic AZS–SDQ sector, blocked at just 40 minutes and flown by a 389-seat Airbus A350-900. There are no local traffic rights on this intra-Dominican Republic leg; it exists purely as part of the long-haul pattern.
Why Samaná, and why now
Air Caraïbes has served Paris–Santo Domingo for 13 years, targeting outbound leisure from France and VFR flows to Francophone Caribbean points. Samaná becomes its first-ever station on the DR’s north coast, giving the airline a cost-controlled way to test demand: reach AZS with the long-haul inbound, then reposition 50 nautical miles to SDQ for the eastbound return to Paris.
First flight departs Paris on December 15, weekly at launch, stepping up to twice weekly in early 2026. It will be the only nonstop link from Europe to Samaná.
The planned timings (local)
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Paris Orly → Samaná: 11:45 → 16:20 (9h35)
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Samaná → Santo Domingo: 17:30 → 18:10 (40m; no local traffic rights)
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Santo Domingo → Paris Orly: 20:20 → 09:50+1 (8h30)
How short is “short” for a widebody
By block time (chocks-off to chocks-on) in the Dec 2025–Feb 2026 window, AZS–SDQ ties a crowded field of 40-minute twin-aisle sectors. A few are even shorter:
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30 minutes: Zanzibar–Dar es Salaam (Air Tanzania 787-8; bookable)
Also on the loop: KLM 787-10 operates AMS–ZNZ–DAR–AMS with the domestic leg typically timed at 35 minutes -
30 minutes: Bonaire–Curaçao (Corendon A350-900; tag in AMS–BON–CUR–AMS; not sold locally)
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35 minutes: St Kitts–Antigua (British Airways 777-200ER; LGW–ANU–SKB and reverse)
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35 minutes: Punta Cana–Santo Domingo (Air Caraïbes A350-900 on Dec 1 only; ORY–SDQ–PUJ–ORY pattern)
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40 minutes: Bandar Seri Begawan–Kota Kinabalu (Royal Brunei 787-8; weekly)
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40 minutes: Banjul–Dakar (Brussels Airlines A330-300)
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40 minutes: Billund–Copenhagen (Sunclass A330-300/900; tag to Sal)
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40 minutes: Brazzaville–Kinshasa (Air France A350-900; world-famous 12-mile hop by distance)
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40 minutes: Freetown–Conakry (Brussels Airlines A330-300)
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40 minutes: Lomé–Accra (Brussels Airlines A330-300)
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40 minutes: Malabo–Douala (Air France 787-9/A330-200)
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40 minutes: Samaná–Santo Domingo (Air Caraïbes A350-900)
Measured by distance rather than time, Brazzaville–Kinshasa usually ranks as the shortest widebody hop globally, but its 40-minute block keeps it off the “fastest by time” top spot.
Why airlines run ultra-short widebody tags
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Network stitching: Triangle or W-patterns let carriers serve two local markets with one long-haul rotation.
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Slots and curfews: Consolidating departures from a primary gateway (e.g., SDQ) can align with European slot constraints while still touching a secondary airport (e.g., AZS).
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Cargo and weight: Widebodies carry belly freight and handle performance limits better on hot/short runways.
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Crew and utilization: Keeping the same aircraft and crew on a continuous pattern avoids a second subfleet or layover.
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Risk management: Tagging a secondary station to a proven trunk eases demand risk for new or seasonal points.
The hardware
Air Caraïbes will use its A350-900s (fleet of four) in a 389-seat configuration. The type offers lower fuel burn per seat, high cargo volume, and the range to do ORY–AZS nonstop while preserving schedule reliability on the return from SDQ.
Context in Samaná
Over the past two decades Samaná has seen seasonal or charter links from Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Lisbon, London Gatwick, Madrid, Milan Malpensa, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Paris CDG/Orly, and Stockholm Arlanda. Air Caraïbes’ move restores a direct European connection, now bundled into a lower-risk tag with Santo Domingo.
Bottom line
Air Caraïbes’ 40-minute A350 hop from Samaná to Santo Domingo won’t be the absolute shortest widebody flight on earth, but it’s a clever piece of network engineering. It gives Samaná nonstop access to Paris, keeps the long-haul aircraft productive, and contains risk by funneling the eastbound departure out of SDQ. Expect more carriers to use similar short tags as they balance leisure growth, slot realities, and long-haul fleet efficiency.
