beyondbrics

By Andrew Downie in São Paulo

If Twitter’s trending topics measured the popularity of important issues rather than nonsense then aviation would top the list in Brazil, instead of murderous goalkeepers, psychic octopuses and Justin Bieber, whoever he is.

Airports and airport infrastructure have been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently. The man in charge of organizing the 2014 World Cup recently said Brazil’s top priorities are not stadiums or roads or security but “airports, airports, airports”. And yesterday, after years of faffing about, the government promised to invest $5.15 billion reais (around $2.9bn) to ready 13 airports in time for the tournament.

Today, one of the country’s youngest airlines announced its own expansion plans. Azul, the upstart airline that has set its sights on market leaders Gol and Tam, announced it is to spend $850 million on 20 new aircraft to help bring passengers into its hub airport in Campinas, just outside São Paulo. The purchase of the ATR 72-600 prop planes (pictured) is designed to strengthen the company’s presence in the booming rural area around Campinas, in São Paulo state.

There are dozens of large and economically vibrant cities in the surrounding area and Azul wants to provide more flights from them to Campinas (and from there to points beyond).

“Our goal is to have low prices and high frequency and you need an aircraft that is suited to that mission,” Trey Urbhan, Azul’s VP of Marketing and Planning, said of a plane that has a 700km reach. Azul chose the 70-seater prop plane ahead of the locally manufactured Embraer lines in large part because it can operate more easily out of smaller airports and shorter runways (The ATR is made by a joint French-Italian company).

Azul currently has just 5.8 per cent market share but it has grown quickly since taking off in December 2008, and claims to have boarded its first 3 million passengers faster than any start up airline in the world.

It currently flies 15 planes out of 22 airports and aims to add another four destinations before the end of the year. Deliveries of the new ATR 72-600 will start late next year.

President Pedro Janot said the company was more concerned about growing today rather than what will happen in 2014 but there is no doubt there is room for Azul to eat into Tam and Gol’s dominance. The two big airlines are still known for high fares and patchy customer service.

Azul may not be household name just yet. But the trend is up.

Related reading:
Farnborough airshow – In depth, FT
Flybe announces £850m Embraer plane order, BBC