Brazil’s Largest Bus Company to Hire 600 Professionals, Found New Airline

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Although the air sector is in crisis because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Latin America’s largest passenger bus company, Viação Itapemirim S.A., will initiate a recruitment campaign for its new airline next Friday, October 9th.

In total, 600 professionals will be hired for several positions, such as pilots, co-pilots and flight attendants. The company’s goal is to start flying in March 2021.

For each aircraft, 67 staff will be required, both crew and ground operations, says Itapemirim’s president Rodrigo Vilaça. According to him, by the end of this year the company will receive three Airbus A320 aircraft, out of a total of ten planned for the first stage. The first will arrive later this month. Should all proceed as planned, it will total 56 aircraft within three years. The company, which will be called Ita Transportes Aéreos, was announced in February by the group’s owner Sidnei Piva.

Initially, it was said that a United Arab Emirates fund would finance the project, which was not confirmed. Vilaça says that today the bus company group – which is under bankruptcy protection – is talking to two other funds, but has not yet closed any deal.

For the time being, the new company, headed by Tiago Senna, is being financed with equity. Almost 50 people are working to get the project up and running, Vilaça says, pointing out that the creation of the airline company is provided for in the judicial recovery proceedings. “This has now been authorized by the plan’s legal manager, which has been approved by the creditors and is being complied with.”

He says that Ita Transportes Aéreos will be born dissociated from the judicial recovery, free of any debt. And this is why Vilaça believes that the moment is ideal for the company to start flying, since some of its competitors are struggling. “We are not carrying any heavy structure. We will start with a clean sheet,” says the company’s president.

He says the project was conceived as regional, but with the pandemic, it has changed to the national level. In the current design, which is under approval by ANAC, the company will have hubs in four airports: Guarulhos (SP), Galeão (RJ), Brasília (DF) and some city in Brazil’s Northeast, which has not yet been chosen. “In total, Ita will fly to 16 airports in Brazil”.

Attorney Felipe Bonsenso, a specialist in the air sector, states that in a country with the dimensions of Brazil, there is room for a new company, particularly after Avianca Brasil’s bankruptcy. He believes that, considering the pandemic and the dramatic reduction in demand (and also in supply), there will be a gradual resumption of services.

“And it is precisely in this niche that I believe ITAPEMIRIM can do very well, since it enables this new company’s organic activity to grow. In other words, it doesn’t have to deal with a substantial payroll or high fixed costs (when compared to competitors).” He believes that the company should position itself as demand rises, just as Gol and Azul did in the past.

Currently the company is in stage two of a total of five that ANAC requires for certification. In the first stages, the agency analyses the formal request and all the required documents. As of stage four, the company’s manuals and programs are approved and in stage five the operation is certified. After all these procedures, the concession is published by ANAC’s board of directors.

Viação Itapemirim S.A. is a Brazilian passenger road transport company. It was founded on July 4, 1953, in the municipality of Itapemirim, Espírito Santo state. It is the largest passenger bus company in Brazil and Latin America.

Source: Exame