Azul expands operations in Congonhas to Porto Alegre
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Since Sunday (26), passengers wishing to fly from Porto Alegre to São Paulo and vice versa now have one more option: Azul Linhas Aéreas has doubled its operating capacity at Congonhas Airport, in the capital of São Paulo, including in this package the return of the connection with the capital of Rio Grande do Sul through Salgado Filho International Airport. With the novelty, Porto Alegre will offer more than 12,000 seats per week and ten new daily flights – five outward and five return – between the two cities. Together with Azul, it joins Gol, which began this Sunday the expansion of its route to the São Paulo airport.
In addition to the return of flights to Porto Alegre and Curitiba (PR), more flights to Belo Horizonte (MG), Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and Recife (PE) were announced, as well as unprecedented operations to Brasília. “From these capitals, we connect remote regions of Brazil, these are flights that change lives. We have this advantage because we work with smaller planes, specific planes for some regions, as is the case of Fernando de Noronha”, explained the CEO.
In Rio Grande do Sul, there are 29 daily flights, 18 destinations in total and 900 departures per month made by the company. Rodgerson also highlighted the connectivity between the Capital and the Interior, including Pelotas, Caxias do Sul, Canela, Santa Maria, Uruguaiana, Santa Cruz do Sul, Santa Rosa and Alegrete, where only Azul operates. “Our expansion in Congonhas means that passengers have more options, including connecting Porto Alegre to cities in the interior where we also operate. In fact, RS is one of the states where we connect the capital and interior the most”, he reflected.
With the new operations, the CEO said that the results can already be observed in the balance sheet for the second half of this year, and that the expansion is one of the factors that will make the company have an Ebitda greater than R$ 5 billion this year.
Despite not guaranteeing that ticket fares will reduce due to the new options in Congonhas, Rodgerson believes that this is a natural trend for the next six months or a year. He also highlighted the drop in the value of fuel, despite the fact that, in Brazil, the tax is higher, and the growing supply in the country. “There is demand. So, we need to put more capacity. The government always demands this from us”, he added. He also said that the new government is committed to helping the sector to lower the cost of tickets so that more people from the lower classes can travel.
In Rio Grande do Sul, Azul has been operating since 2018, and Porto Alegre was the destination of the company’s second commercial flight in its history.
Azul considers starting operations at Rivera Airport
Azul’s expansion project also continues in Rio Grande do Sul, especially with regard to the border. Exclusively to Jornal do Comérciothe Company’s Director of Institutional Operations, Fabio Campos, and the CEO of Azul, John Rodgerson stated that they are studying the possibility of starting operations at Rivera Airport with the binationalization.
The signing of the agreement between Brazil and Uruguay is scheduled for early April, according to an announcement made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, alongside the foreign minister of the neighboring country, Francisco Bustillo, on March 7th. On that occasion, the two countries also sealed the commitment with the Lagoa Mirim Waterway.
According to Campos, Rivera’s flights would be destined for Porto Alegre. Rodgerson added: “RS has many tourist destinations that people want to visit. Many times, they go to the other side just for duty free, and we have spoken with the government, why not do something inside Brazil and have this binationalization , to bring more trade to Brazil?” he questioned.
Azul’s CEO also highlighted that Azul’s relationship with Rio Grande do Sul goes beyond passenger transport. “An operation that the gauchos do very well with us is cargo transport, there is a lot of production that takes place in RS that we take to the whole world, to all corners of Brazil, but also to Europe and the USA”, he concluded.
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