Brazillian Main Airlines (4)

AVIANCA

www.avianca.com.br

Avianca started operating in Brazil as a small carrier. Nowadays it has a fleet of new A319 and A320, all with flight entertainment. The food is the best among domestic flights.

Its flights can now earn points for LIFE MILES milleage program, which is used in AVIANCA International and Copa Arilines, as well other carriers in South and Central America. In this sense, AVIANCA is a good option for South and Central America travels combined with Brazil. 

AVIANCA itself flies from São Paulo (GRU) to Bogotá, where it is located its main hub. Copa flies from Panama to São Paulo, Rio, Porto Alegre, Recife and Manaus. 

AVIANCA tried a merge with TAP (the Portuguese airline), but in the end the group of David Neeleman, owner of AZUL and JET BLUE, was declarated winner of the dispute by the portuguese government.

AVIANCA operates in main terminals at brazillian airports, so no worries about going to some isolated terminal. 

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.

Brazillian main airlines (2)

GOL

www.voegol.com.br 

GOL was created as the first low-cost carrier in Brazil. Of course, it changed the industry in Brazil, but prices aren´t necessarily the best.

GOL stopped serving meals for free, but recently it has announced this service will be retaken. So far, you have to pay for sandwiches and snacks, just water is for free.

GOL flies outside Brazil just to south-american countries (Caracas, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Cordoba) and has flights to the US stopping in the Caribbean (Santo Domingo) or in Venezuela (Caracas). It doesn´t flies to Europe.

Nevertheless, GOL has agreements with Delta and Air France, so it´s possible to fly domestic GOL flights, as a complement of international flights bought in the websites of those companies.

GOL has a fleet of boeings 737-700/800 mostly.

It´s fidelity program is “Smiles” (www.smiles.com.br), which was inherited from Varig, the old international Brazillian carrier which has bankrupted. Gol bought what was left from Varig, and maintained its milleage program.

Nevertheless, GOL didn´t preserve the name and the international flights that Varig had.

GOL operates mostly from São Paulo international (GRU, Terminal 1) and domestic (CGH), Rio international (GIG) and domestic (SDU), Belo Horizonte (CNF) and Brasília (BSB). 

Brazillian main airlines

TAM (Transportes Aéreos Mercosul)

www.tam.com.br

TAM started as a small carrier in São Paulo state, and now TAM has the biggest fleet in Brazil. It is also the brazillian main carrier of international flights. Its hub is São Paulo International Airport (located in Guarulhos, GRU Aiport www.gruairport.com.br), from where it flies to Europe (Milan, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Bracelona), the US (Miami, New York, Orlando) and almost every south-american country (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Bogotá, Lima). TAM flies also to Mexico City and Cancun (a recently opened flight) from São Paulo International - GRU. TAM has flights to Europe and US from Rio (Galeão, GIG airport). TAM also provides some international flights to the US from Brasília (BSB airport) and Manaus.

TAM merged with the chilean airline LAN, forming the LATAM group. They became the biggest airline group in South America; now both companies share flights and the milleage program. Because of that, the Brazillian merger´s authority demanded TAM to leave staralliance international milleage program. So, TAM joined the oneworld milleage program.

It´s own milleage program is called TAM Fidelidade, which was expanded for other business in Brazil, trhough Multiplus Fidelidade www.multiplusfidelidade.com.br

TAM´s fleet is mostly composed by Aribus A319, A320, A321, and recently TAM bought the A350W for international flights. It operates some Boeings 777 on international flights.

LATAM group has recently annouced that it intends to build another hub in one of the following three cities, in the northeast region of Brazil: Fortaleza, Recife or Natal. Due to its strategic position almost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the northeast region of Brazil was put in the companie´s future plans of providing new connections with Europe.

TAM´s international flights, allied with LAN´s net and its vast domestic flight network, can make things easier when travelling to Brazil.

Flying to and inside Brazil

Travelling inside Brazil, specially if you want to go to one state to another, will demand you take an airline. The country has a similar size as the US and Europe, but there´s no high-speed train and distances are huge. Roadtrips can be done, but only if you will have time or if you will stay in the same state or region. Furthermore, I´ll write about roadtrips. The Amazonian states can´t be visited by car, so you´ll need to get a some-days-long boat trip if you want to avoid the airplane there. Nevertheless, it is always possible to rent a car in the main airports, but you must check if the place you want to go is reachable by car, specially in the Amazonian states (Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Roraima and Rondonia).

For all state capitals there are daily and regular flights from São Paulo, Rio and Brasilia. Starting in other cities and depending on where you intend to go, may demand a conection. Big and medium sized cities in the countryside also have airports with regular flights.

Basically, in Brazil there are four main airlines which provides national service: TAM, GOL, AZUL and AVIANCA. TAM and GOL have the biggest marketshare and are always fighting for the leadership in domestic flights. AZUL and AVIANCA have smaller marketshare and less number of flights, but their service is good and can be both excellent options for less expensive flights. But be aware they can operate in terminals separated from the main terminal in big airports. In the next posts I´ll write about each one of them. All their sites can be switched for english, spanish and other languages.

There are some regional carriers which goes to smaller cities, like SETE BRASIL and PASSAREDO.

All four main carriers provide online check-in and have their apps too, for smartphones. They also have automatic machines ("totems") in the airports for check-in and other services. TAM and GOL, when you check-in at those machines in the airport, generally offer an earlier flight, if available. This is verty practical in case you´ve arrived too early in the airport.
But you can still check-in the old way, if you want to talk to the companie´s personnel....and take the line.

Domestic flights allow you to check, without extra costs, 1 piece of luggage weighting 23kg (50lbs).
International flights from Europe, US and Asia generally allows 2 pieces weighting 32kg (70lbs). However, it is always advisable to check your airline luggage allowance rules, which can also vary according to the ticket you´ve bought

(above: TAM and GOL planes at BSB, Brasilia International Airport)
Hand luggage policy is similar to Europe and US, but some airline personnel in some airports may demand you to check your luggage if they think it is too big for carrying on. Generally, sharp, cutting and piercing objects must be checked, as well as bottles over than 1 liter. 
In the next posts I´ll make some comments on each big-four airlines. 

The capitals of Brazil

When tourists think of Brazil, they think of Rio, samba and carnival.

For sure, Rio is the touristic capital and perhaps the most beautifull city in the world, at least when it comes for a combination between sea, city, mountains and jungle. 

Of course, the greatest and most luxurious carnival in the world is held in Rio, and it is also the capital of samba.

(above, the Corcovado mountain seen from the "Pão de Açúcar" or "Sugarloaf" mountain)

But Brazillian music and culture aren´t just about samba, and there are lots of other rythims I want to explore furthermore in this blog. 

Well, Brazil is more than samba and party, so the country as its economic capital, what doesn´t mean you can´t have enough fun there: São Paulo. In fact, when we talk about nightlife, international food, museums and exhibitions in Brazil, we´d better rush for São Paulo.

(above, the Ibirapuera Park and the Paraíso neighborhood in São Paulo)

And, of course, Brazil has its political capital located in the middle of the country, built in the late 50´s, Brasilia. This young modernist capital is home to Oscar Niemayer´s masterpieces, the most famous Brazillian architect, who planned the buildings while Lucio Costa, his fellow urbanist, planned the layout of the city. A bureaucratic city, of course, but with outstanding architecture, plenty green areas and wonderfull and unknown landscapes on its surrounding places. And plus, the beauty of the "Ipês", a very big tree with very beautifull flowering from july to september.