Another Low-Cost Airline Seeks to Enter Brazil’s Air Travel Market

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s National Aviation Agency (ANAC) has received yet another request from a low-cost international airline company to enter the Brazilian air travel market. Chilean company, Sky Airline, has asked the Brazilian aviation regulator to authorize its flights from Chile. This is the third low-cost airline to seek authorization from the Brazilian government to establish international routes into the country.

“The company has already had legal operating authorization since 2013, but never put into practice the operation of regular flights into the country. To start regular flights, operational authorization is required. When authorized, Sky Airline intends to start operating in November this year with flights connecting Brazil to Chile,” said the press release divulged by ANAC on Wednesday (September 5th).

In August, ANAC authorized Norwegian Air, one of the largest low-cost airlines in Europe to start regular routes to Brazil. The Norwegian airline is expected to operate direct flights from Europe to Brazil starting in January of 2019. The company plans to initially fly to three destinations: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, but other Brazilian cities, such as Salvador, are also being discussed.

Norwegian Air is the third low-cost airline in Europe, only behind EasyJet and RyanAir.

In addition to the two companies, Anac said Avian, a subsidiary of Avianca, also plans to operate regular flights in the country. The company has requested authorization for non-scheduled flights and intends to make the route from Buenos Aires to São Paulo.

Another Argentinian company, Flybondi, has also expressed to operate between Argentina and Brazil. In August the company received authorization from the Argentine government to operate international routes and is now discussing seeking authorization from Brazilian authorities.

According to a survey by webportal Aviação Brasil, the country’s commercial aviation sector registered a 3.18 percent growth in domestic demand and 21.72 percent in international flights during the first two months of 2018 as compared to 2017, with 15,893,076 passengers transported within the domestic market and 1,721,549 passengers in the international market.