Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras (AD, São Paulo Viracopos) has scheduled the commercial debut of its recently delivered A350-900 for December 15, 2022, ch-aviation schedule analysis has revealed.

The Brazilian carrier will deploy its largest widebody aircraft 6x weekly from São Paulo Viracopos to Orlando International, increasing to daily from December 27 and to 10x weekly from January 4, 2023. The route is currently operated with A330-200s.

Azul's first A350-900, F-WTAO (msn 168), was delivered to Brazil in mid-September. It remains in storage at Viracopos and has yet to be registered in Brazil. The carrier plans to take a further three A350s (including one by the end of 2023), all of them originally ordered by Azul from AerCap but delivered to Hong Kong Airlines at a time when the Hong Kong carrier's owner HNA Group was also a minority shareholder in Azul.

Azul's A350s will replace the A330-200s. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that the airline currently operates seven units of the type, which are 20.5 years old on average.