Azul has indefinitely postponed plans to launch service to New York John F Kennedy International airport, as business travel demand from Brazil continues to weaken.
“We don’t think it’s time to do that now,” says Priscilla Branco, aircraft programmes and international contracts manager at the Brazilian carrier, at the ISTAT Americas conference in Phoenix.
The two Airbus A330-200s that Azul had planned to use for service to New York JFK from its Viracopos-Campinas International airport base will be subleased to TAP Portugal, she adds.
Azul chief David Neeleman previously told Flightglobal that the airline intended to launch JFK service by this April.
The carrier will continue to serve Fort Lauderdale and Orlando from Viracopos, says Branco. Load factors on these routes remain high despite a drop in yields due to the weakening Brazilian real and less business travel.
“If we were to begin now, we probably would have second thoughts about it,” she says.
Azul began service to the USA in December 2014.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
