Q&A with Azul’s Priscilla Branco, Head of Aircraft Programs

Noticias Airbus caught up with Azul’s Head of Aircraft Programs, Priscilla Branco to talk about the airline’s latest developments. Azul has the largest airline network in Brazil in terms of cities served, with services to over 100 destinations, 189 routes and 730 departures per day.

1. How would you describe the Azul business model?

What makes us unique is the combination of our route network and our high-quality customer experience. With high-frequency service from our Sao Paulo – Viracopos hub to all of Brazil’s major business destinations, Azul is the airline of choice for Brazilian corporate travelers. Our network in Sao Paulo – Viracopos is the largest domestic hub in South America with service to over 55 nonstop destinations, connecting customers throughout Brazil. Our inflight experience features individual entertainment screens with 40 channels of free live TV at every seat on virtually all of our jets, extensive legroom with a pitch of 30 inches, 2 by 2 seating with no middle seat and free bus service to key airports. For our international flights to the United States and Europe we have recently launched a new state-of-the-art interior for our A330 aircraft with lie-flat business class, as well an “economy xtra” cabin with an additional 3 inches of extra legroom, in a 2-4-2 configuration, which also includes some seats that can be converted into “sky couches”.

2. With the A320neo entering into service in Azul later this year, how do you expect these new aircraft will operate in your fleet? How will the development of SHARP for Santos Dumont help Azul?

Azul is extremely excited for the A320neo to enter in our fleet later this year. These new aircraft will focus on longer haul domestic as well as some extremely high density short haul routes. Primarily based at Sao-Paulo Viracopos, these aircraft will operate missions to the North and Northeast of Brazil to destinations like Recife, Fortaleza and Manaus. We expect that with the economics of the A320neo we will have an extremely competitive product to these leisure-oriented destinations. The addition of these extra seats will significantly improve connections opportunities from origins across Brazil to these popular destinations in the North and Northeast. In addition we also plan to use these aircraft during peak times between hubs such as Sao-Paulo to Belo Horizonte.

Azul is currently the second biggest airline at the strategically important Rio downtown Santos Dumont airport. The development of the SHARP package will allow us significant opportunities to expand our presence and take advantage of our position at that airport. We will use the aircraft during peak business times to cater to the high-yielding local demand as well provide ample connecting opportunities from Santos Dumont to the rest of Brazil, as well as the US and Europe via our Viracopos hub.

3. How do you foresee the collaboration with TAP and the air bridge it creates between Portugal and Brazil?

TAP over the years has built a very impressive and privileged position in the Brazil – Europe market with nonstop service from its Lisbon hub to 12 cities in Brazil. Azul has presence in each of these cities and therefore deploying the A320neo strategically at these locations will allow us to connect an even greater number of customers between our two networks. The A320neo allows us to reduce connection times and provide the best connecting opportunities for customers between Brazil and Europe with the industry leading economics of the NEO. On top of that, we are very happy with the customers response to our new LIS service that began in June this year and we have already increased frequency from 3x weekly to 5x weekly.

Damien Sternchuss,
Senior Airline Marketing Analyst
damien.sternchuss@airbus.com