Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras (AD, São Paulo Viracopos) has been given the go-ahead by the Brazilian civil aviation authority (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil - ANAC) to commence flights to the United States later this year. According to a Brazilian government gazette, the LCC has been allocated 18 weekly frequencies as per the country's bilateral air service agreement with the United States. In terms of paperwork, all that remains is for the US Department of Transportation (DoT) to issue Azul a foreign air carrier permit and route authorization.

As reported earlier this year, Azul is planning to use its fleet of A330-200s to offer São Paulo Viracopos to Fort Lauderdale International and Orlando International flights from December with New York JFK flights to follow later on in summer 2015.

However, the move has not gone unnoticed by its foreign rivals with American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) responding with B767-300(ER) flights from New York and Miami International to Campinas Viracopos effective December 1.

Commenting on American's announcement, Azul's director of marketing, Gianfranco Beting, labelled the US carrier "relentless".

"American is a relentless competitor. They do not go into any game to lose. This is good and makes us stronger to compete," he told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.

Analysts have speculated that Azul's choice of Fort Lauderdale and Orlando are part of a broader plan to partner US budget carrier, JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK), which maintains an extensive presence at both airports. However, jetBlue founder and current Azul CEO David Neeleman has since rejected the reports as baseless.

"No comment. We are studying our options. Part of the game plan is to have a partner, but we will only announce it when the time is right," he said.