Small-Scale Airlines Authorized for Avianca Slots in São Paulo Congonhas Airport

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) has authorized the operations of Passaredo (based in Ribeirão Preto, SP) and MAP airlines (based in Manaus) in the city airport. The two companies, along with Azul, were granted slots (landing and takeoff permits) at the terminal after Avianca suspended its operations in May.

Under the decision taken on Wednesday, August 14th, allocating the 41 Avianca slots, MAP will operate 12, Azul 15, and Passaredo was left with 14, all of which will be at the times previously operated by Avianca Brasil on the main runway.

“The approval occurred after an assessment conducted in cooperation with the Center for Management of Air Navigation (CGNA) of the operational requirements and aircraft performance of the airlines. After the approval, companies may begin providing flights according to the allocated schedules and registered routes,” said ANAC.

On Tuesday, August 13th, Azul announced that it would begin selling tickets for the Rio-São Paulo air shuttle. The company said it will run 16 daily flights between Congonhas and Santos Dumont, in Rio de Janeiro, beginning on August 29th.

Azul will use five to six Embraer E-195 aircraft, initially on the airport’s auxiliary runway. The company said it would operate at initial rates of R$99 per route.

ANAC further confirmed the allocation of the auxiliary runway’s 14 slots to the Two Flex company dedicated to regional aviation with aircraft of up to nine seats.

At the end of July, ANAC redistributed the 41 Avianca slots in Congonhas to Azul, MAP, and Passaredo, three of the four companies that had expressed interest in the permits.

The decision to redistribute the slots was taken by ANAC on July 25th, in an extraordinary meeting and it will apply to the season running from October 27th, 2019 to October 27th, 2020. However, considering the critical concentration and high saturation level of Congonhas’ infrastructure, the companies are now authorized to begin offering flights, according to ANAC immediately.

Despite the redistribution of slots, two other companies account for more than 87 percent of the Congonhas slots: Gol and Latam, with just over 43 percent of the main runway’s slots each. Azul, Passaredo and MAP share the remainder, just over 12 percent.

MAP Linhas Aéreas is a Brazilian airline based in Manaus, founded and approved in 2011. Currently, it operates between cities in the states of Amazonas and Pará, being the only company to work in the Amazonian countryside.

Passaredo Linhas Aéreas is an airline based in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. It operates regional services in Brazil. Its main base is Dr. Leite Lopes Airport, Ribeirão Preto.

According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), between January and December 2018 Passaredo had 0.3 percent of the domestic market share of revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), making it the fifth-largest domestic airline in Brazil.