Startup Airlines to Spread Their Wings in 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL -While some airlines ceased operating, others are planning to kick start in 2021.

In March 2021, Brazil’s largest bus company Itapemirim is launching a new airline: Ita Linhas Aereas (ITA). Tiago Senna, Ita’s CEO, announced that the airline would operate from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, and Vitória. The airline has already defined 17 initial destinations hoping to carry out an average of 3,000 flights per month. Although the Covid crisis is raging particularly hard in Brazil, the airline branch of the bus company wants to start operating on short routes next year.

In the first six months of 2021, we might see the rise of another Brazilian airline – Nella Linhas Aéreas. Just like ITA, it aims at serving the regional travel market and has plans to operate to 78 airports. In November 2020, Brazil’s Central Bank approved the registration of Nella, which is fully owned by foreign investors.

Planning for Nella Linhas Aéreas began three years ago. In February 2020, the Brazilian investment company JKL Holdings officially founded Nella, reports the Airway 1 portal. While Itapemirim wants to focus more on business travellers, Nella will concentrate on connecting remote cities.

Four ATR 42 planned

«We see how unsupported many regions of Brazil are,» says Maurício Souza, head of JKL Holdings. «We intend to […] serve various regions of Brazil with smaller aircraft,» says the manager. The current plan is to start with four ATR 42s. The short-haul turboprop aircraft  have room for 44 passengers.

At a later date, the deployment of the larger sister model ATR 72 is also planned. A launch date has not yet been fixed for Nella. But preparations are already concrete: the company is in contact with the authorities for certification and is already planning the route network, says Souza.

Likewise, Colombia is also in line to get a new airline. With 29 domestic routes and 15 international, new low-cost carrier Ultra Air is ready to get a good share of the country’s domestic flight market. The founder of Ultra Air, William Shaw, said that the airline would offer airfares 20% lower than other carriers in Colombia. The airline reportedly plans to use a fleet of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 MAX 8, which would make it the first Colombian Airline to use the Boeing MAX aircraft.

Ecuatoriana Airlines reported it had obtained its operating permit for domestic flights in Ecuador. The carrier is planning to launch operations in the first quarter of 2021. Launched by a group of investors in the US and Ecuador, it received the permit for the provision of regular domestic air transport service in the country in November, 2020. The carrier intends to launch services from the Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, Ecuador.

Scandinavia
While Norwegian Air Shuttle is facing serious financial troubles, new startup airlines are popping up in northern Europe.

In Denmark, the new airline Airseven will fly charter contracts and lease planes to individual flights instead of establishing scheduled routes. It will be a so-called virtual airline, outsourcing most of its functions. The airline’s fleet consists of two Boeing 737-400s with 168 seats in each. In December 2020, the two Boeings were delivered to Airseven’s operator, Copenhagen AirTaxi.

Likewise, the new Norwegian airline Flyr has entered the competition for Norwegian market with plans to start operating flights in early 2021. On December 5, 2020, the company, owned by former CEO of Braathens SAFE and board member of Norwegian Erik G. Braathen, announced its name and launched the website. Braathen first revealed his plans for the new airline in October 2020. The airline currently has investment for the planning stages and is looking for further funding to launch next year. Braathen told CNN that the company was choosing between the Boeing 737-800 or the Airbus A320.

Why now?
Coronavirus crisis hit especially hard the carriers operating on the long-haul international flights and it will take time for them to return. The start up airlines are using smaller, narrow-body aircraft and are primarily targeting the quickly recovering domestic market.

“Itapemirim will enter the market appropriate to the size of the demand. Today, even in the middle of COVID-19, with the number of flights that the counterparts are offering, the flight occupancy is around 85%, 90%,” said ITA’s CEO Tiago Senna.

Smaller airlines might have an advantage as charter routes could become more popular due to border restrictions and on-going lockdowns across Europe. Flyr’s CEO Braathen told CNN that he was confident that when Flyr launched the aviation landscape would be quite different.