Azul Launches New Regional Airline in Brazil, Wants to Reach 200 Cities

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Tuesday, August 11th, Azul launched its new subsidiary for the regional flight market: Azul Conecta. The in-person launching ceremony was held in Jundiaí, São Paulo State, and was attended by the company’s professionals and executives as well as government officials. With this step, the company aims to increase its coverage in the country and wants to reach 200 cities in coming years.

The company is the result of the acquisition of TwoFlex, announced earlier this year. With operations now covering 36 destinations in Brazil, Azul Conecta consists of 17 Cessna Gran Caravan aircraft, a regional single-engine turboprop with capacity for up to nine seats. Of the 17 aircraft, three are exclusively cargo planes.

“With these aircraft, we will transform Brazil once again. We will reach 200 destinations. Everyone is sad about what is happening in the world, but it will end. We must look ahead and help Brazil grow,” said John Rodgerson, president of Azul.

The executive also congratulated the government for its actions to open the airline sector, creating opportunities for companies.

The National Secretary of Civil Aviation (SAC) of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Ronei Saggioro Glanzmann, who was also in Jundiaí for the launching, stressed the importance of increasing coverage in Brazil. “This type of aircraft is crucial. We don’t have airports like Congonhas everywhere in Brazil,” he said, arguing for passenger demand for flights in more remote municipalities.

“We strongly believe in sub-regional airlines. We believe in serving the cities that we were unable to serve with our fleet. The Caravan is a versatile aircraft. This fleet versatility greatly helps serve these smaller markets,” said Azul’s Technical-Operational Vice-President and CEO of Azul Conecta, Flavio Costa.

With Azul Conecta, the group now covers 152 municipalities. The country regions Costa considers to have the most opportunities are the North and Midwest. “They are highly underserved regions. But there are also opportunities in small cities in the Southeast and South,” he said.

The company announced the acquisition of TwoFlex in January 2020. In May, the company finalized the acquisition for a total price of R$123 million. The deal was approved without reservations by the country’s Antitrust Agency CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) in a decision taken on March 27th.

The former TwoFlex, based in Jundiaí, offered regular passenger and cargo services to 39 destinations, three of them already served by Azul. Perhaps more important, the company also had 14 slots in the auxiliary runway of Congonhas (CGH), São Paulo’s downtown airport.

The business, albeit small, was very well received by the market because it increases Azul’s presence in Congonhas, the most contested terminal in the country by airline companies.

With the slots in the auxiliary runway, Azul is virtually operating alone in Congonhas during the reform of the terminal’s main runway. Gol and LATAM, which work only with larger aircraft, had to relocate their routes to Guarulhos (GRU) during the runway interventions, which run from August 5th to September 5th.

Source: Estadão Conteúdo