Azul CEO Calls BNDES Airline Industry Rescue Package “Very Expensive”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Azul Conecta, the new airline subsidiary for regional flights chaired by American John Rodgerson, was launched on Tuesday morning, August 11th. The company is the result of the acquisition of TwoFlex, completed in early 2020, before the pandemic, for R$123 million (US$23 million).

Despite the severe crisis that plagues the airline industry, the company has a bold plan to reach a total of 200 cities in Brazil in the future, given that TwoFlex already operates in 39 airports in the country, with Azul – until then – operating in only three of them.

While there is a certain amount of optimism from the company’s executives regarding future operations, it is well-known that the current situation is not the best, so much so that the company’s CEO, who attended the event at Jundiaí Airport, in the interior of São Paulo, does not rule out new loans and said that all money is welcome, but that the notorious National Economic and Social Development Bank’s (BNDES) operation in the sector, known as the air rescue package, is “very expensive”.

“Any opportunity to raise more money is welcome, but I resent people using the term ‘BNDES rescue’ because it’s not a rescue, it’s a very expensive thing and it generates a great return for the Brazilian government, so I don’t like people referring to it as a rescue, because it is not. But yes, there is an expectation that it will be released soon, we already have an alignment with the bank but we can not yet disclose the details, “said John Rodgerson.

“In general, we’re in good shape and we’re confident that we will get through the next 18 months smoothly until things get back to normal,” he said. Azul’s next quarterly balance will be released on Thursday, August 13th, and the terms of the operation, which has been dragging on since May, are expected to finally be released.

It will also be on Thursday that the 10-year code-sharing agreement between Azul and LATAM, announced in June, will come into effect. The companies will market the tickets in line with the terms of the agreement and will initially include 50 domestic routes not overlapping with landings and take-offs from airports in Brasília, Belo Horizonte (CNF), Recife, Porto Alegre, Campinas, Curitiba, and Guarulhos airports.

Despite rumors of an alleged purchase or merger between the companies, the Brazilian company’s CEO denies that there is any negotiation in this regard, and points out that the priority at the moment is only to connect the companies’ networks. However, Rodgerson left things open for the future: “anything can be possible”.

Only the partnership between Azul and TwoFlex is a reality. The new group, called Azul Conecta, now covers 152 municipalities, but has plans to increase this figure to 200, thus expanding the group’s coverage of regional routes throughout Brazil.

Source: Veja