Brazil’s Azul aims to increase flight routes by 30% in 2023, CEO says By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An Azul Brazilian Airways Embraer 195 airplane prepares to take off at Worldwide Airport in Guarulhos, Brazil July 11, 2018. REUTERS/Leonardo Benassatto/File Photograph

By Aluisio Alves

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian airline Azul expects to increase its routes by 30% subsequent yr, with plans so as to add new slots at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport, one of many busiest within the nation, Chief Government Officer John Rodgerson mentioned.

In an interview on Thursday on the firm’s headquarters on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Rodgerson mentioned Azul presently has solely 26 slots in Congonhas, whereas its rivals Gol and LATAM Airways (OTC:) every have round 250.

“The brand new guidelines are fairer,” he mentioned, referencing nationwide aviation regulator ANAC’s resolution in July to distribute 86 slots at Congonhas to extend competitors, with 45 new slots and 41 beforehand utilized by bankrupt Avianca Brasil.

Bradesco BBI analysts estimated final month that just about all the brand new slots – 84 of 86 – would go to Azul, permitting the corporate’s presence within the airport to develop fourfold.

Rodgerson expects to begin promoting tickets for flights from the brand new slots starting in March.

He mentioned the corporate is now primarily targeted on its home operations and in 2023 expects to extend the variety of Brazilian cities it serves to 200 from the present 154, concentrating on locations within the North, Northeast and Central-West areas.

Azul, which has a 164-aircraft fleet and expects to obtain a brand new Embraer airplane each two months within the subsequent few years, expects to hit the milestone of 1,000 flights per day this month, a ten% enhance from late 2019, its CEO mentioned.

Earlier this week, Azul introduced a brand new administration construction, with Chief Income Officer Abhi Shah being tapped to be the corporate’s new president. He’ll report back to Rodgerson.

Rodgerson mentioned the transfer was geared toward making the corporate’s administration extra just like that of huge U.S. airways, with the CEO being freed to give attention to technique as a substitute of dealing with some particular day-to-day duties.

“I am not leaving,” Rodgerson mentioned.

Originally published at Gold Coast News HQ