Tiny Brazilian regional carrier Team plans to introduce an alternative to the air shuttle linking Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, operating from airports currently unused by other scheduled carriers.
Rio de Janeiro-based Team plans to offer daily flights Monday-Friday between Rio's Jacarepaguá airfield to Campo de Marte in Sao Paulo with Let 410 aircraft.
According to Team's president Mario Cesar Moreira, the route "links two important and highly populated business districts of Brazil's two largest cities", avoiding the the downtown traffic and the hassle of a big airport.
He says that the same law which freed Rio's Santos Dumont downtown airport for traffic to any domestic destination also lifted traffic restrictions from other city airports, including Jacarepaguá. Moreira explains Brazil's civil aviation authority ANAC has informed airport operator Infraero about the utilisation of both airports, neither of which currently hosts any scheduled operations.
Moreira did not say if the announced flights imply the acquisition of additional Let aircraft.
Jacarepaguá has a single 900m (2,952ft) long runway, sufficient for the short takeoff landing performance (STOL) of the Let 410 19 seater turboprop, and is located in the western outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
Campo de Marte's runway is 1600m (5,249ft) long and is Sao Paulo's historical first airport which was inaugurated in 1920 and is now used mainly by business aviation operators. Campo de Marte is located just north to the city downtown area while better known Congonhas is located 10km south to Campo de Marte, at the southern downtown area limit.
Team, which was established in 2001, operates a network which serves 10 mostly small communities in the Rio de Janieiro and Sao Paulo states.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
