Aims To Expand To 36 Planes By 2011

JetBlue founder David Neeleman launched his fourth airline Monday, days after Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras S.A. received its first airplane.

The Brazilian domestic carrier inaugurated service between three cities: Campinas (Viracopos Airport), Salvador de Bahia, and Porto Alegre. Azul launches operations this month with three Embraer 195 and two Embraer 190 aircraft. Three more airplanes will be added to introduce nonstop service from Campinas to both Vitoria (Espirito Santo State) and Curitiba (Parana State) on January 14, 2009.

With a fleet of 78 Embraer jets on order, Azul aims to will grow in 2009 to serve 25 cities throughout Brazil with 16 aircraft. The airline plans to receive an additional jet every month for three years to operate 36 aircraft by the end of 2011.

Azul's Embraer 190 and 195 aircraft are furnished with leather seats in a two-by-two seat configuration with a 31-inch seat pitch. The first five rows of each cabin, "Espaco Azul," offer 34-inch pitch, available for around $13 per segment.

The airline will also be the first carrier in Latin America to offer Live TV on individual monitors, by the end of 2009.

"Having been born in Brazil, it's so exciting to be able to start a new airline in my other home," Mr. Neeleman said. "Brazil is the second largest economy in the Americas -- and 10th in the world -- but only about 5 percent of Brazilians currently fly given the high cost of domestic travel."

"There is tremendous unsatisfied leisure demand for airline seats because fares are too high. As a result, 150 million people travel by long distance bus," he added. "And business travelers suffer circuitous routings and lack of frequency. With only 40 percent fewer seats per aircraft, we can provide more frequent and direct service in markets that our competition can't economically serve."

The first flight (AD 4064) departed at noon from Campinas to Salvador de Bahia. Three hours later, Azul's second flight (AD 4062) left Viracopos to Porto Alegre, in Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul. The schedule will comprise two flights a day in each direction, increasing in the coming weeks to five daily roundtrips.

FMI: www.voeazul.com.br