Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras (AD, Sao Paulo Viracopos) may acquire Passaredo Linhas Aéreas (2Z, Ribeirão Preto) as the jostling over slots at congested São Paulo Congonhas intensifies, Bradesco BBI, the investment wing of Banco Bradesco, suggested in a report published on July 15. Along with Passaredo's fleet of six ATR72-500s, Azul could obtain up to ten slots at Congonhas, Brazil’s most important domestic airport.
Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) will, according to Bradesco BBI, consider airlines with up to 39 slots as “new entrants”, distributing Avianca Brasil’s slots between them due to legal uncertainty over the validity of an auction on July 10 that sold the majority of the slots to GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes and LATAM Airlines Brasil.
If this happens, Azul would benefit as it has 26 slots at the airport, potentially doubling its operations at Congonhas. Other “new entrants” in Congonhas that have no slots at all there include Passaredo, which primarily focuses on the southern, southeastern, midwestern, northern, and northeastern regions of Brazil.
Bradesco...
