Brazilian carrier Azul believes it has secured enough additional aircraft to support its target of increasing capacity by 10% next year.
The low-cost carrier will increase capacity by around 6% this year – slightly below the 7% growth originally planned. It cites reduced domestic capacity as a result of the temporary closure of Porto Alegre airport due to floods earlier this year, a temporary reduction in its international capacity in the first half of the year, and new aircraft delivery delays.
”In terms of capacity growth we are looking at about 10% next year,” said Azul chief revenue officer Abih Shah during a third-quarter earnings call on 14 November. “It is going to be lower than that on the domestic side and its going to be higher than that on the international side, because of the four widebodies we received this year.
”We actually got widebodies from the secondary market,” he adds. “So we received two [A330]neos from the used market and two [A330]ceos from the used market, ex-Condor. Those are currently flying.
”We were looking at two other Neos as well, that were used, to enter maybe Q1 of next year. But we think we are better off not taking those now and going directly to our order with Airbus, which is going to be [delivering] in the December timeframe of next year.”
Azul chief executive Rodgerson adds that the carrier acted to secure capacity because of the “challenge for engines” worldwide. “That’s not exclusive to narrowbodies, but is also a challenge we are seeing on the widebodies as well,” he says. “So that’s why its important for us to lock down these used aircraft this year.”
The carrier has also added a number of Embraer 195-E2 regional jets this year.
”On the E2s, we have 10 deliveries this year. A little bit of delay, I would say, maybe 30, 45 days delayed, but still okay,” says Shah. ”And then for next year, we’re assuming between 12 and 15 E2s. Maybe some of them slip into January ’26.
“Our growth is going to be very much focused on the E2s, which is an upgauging strategy from the E1s – significantly lower trip cost, significantly lower fuel burn for 18 extra seats,” he says. “So we’re very excited about that aircraft.”
