Brazillian main airlines (3)

AZUL

www.voeazul.com.br

Azul, along with Avianca, has minor market shares, but a good net of flights along Brazil.
It is owned by David Neeleman, the owner of JetBlue in the US. As he has both nationalities, he could have an airline operating domestic flights in Brazil.

Azul operates mainly from Viracopos Airport (VCP), in Campinas, a 1 million inhabitant city in the rich countryside of São Paulo State, 92km away from the city of São Paulo. It operates mainly with Embraer (Emb 145, Emb 195) airplanes. The planes are smaller than Airbus and Boeings operated by TAM and GOL, but the internal lay-out is very pleasant and spacious. The fleet is quite new and silent.

Viracopos has been, for years, mainly a cargo airport, but Azul took advantage of its infrastructure and location to build a domestic flights´ hub. If your destination is the city of São Paulo, they offer a shuttle to the city, but it takes at least one hour in the road, and God knows how long in the traffic jam in the city. A taxi may be quite expensive.

In the long run, Viracopos is supposed to be the biggest brazillian Airport, if connected by a high-speed train to the city of São Paulo, as it is the only airport in São Paulo´s metropolitan area with free space, on its borders, to grow more. The airport has been renovated for the World Cup, speacially the passenger´s lounge.

Now Azul has started to operate international flights to Orlando (MCO) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL),
Azul is operating also in the international airport (GRU), but from Terminal 4, which is separated from the rest of the airport. In Brasilia it operates also in a separeted terminal. So, you´d better pay attention when flying Azul, because you can loose your flight if you get in the main concourse of those airports.

Azul is also investing on big and medium-sized cities in the countryside of Brazil, so you can reach other destiny´s than the States´capitals, already well served by GOL and TAM flights. Now Azul´s site is announcing direct flights from Cuiabá (capital of Mato Grosso State) to many cities in the country.