Azul Linhas Aéreas has already requested its next new flights at Congonhas Airport, one of the busiest in the country, after ANAC granted an increase from 41 to 84 slots at the São Paulo terminal.
According to a Slot Bank analysis by Aviationline website, Azul plans to maintain current routes, as well as add new flights to Brasília, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Salvador, with daily operations.
Previously, before the pandemic, Azul operated flights to Porto Alegre and Curitiba, departing from Congonhas, but these frequencies gave way at the end of 2019 for the debut of the Ponte Aérea between SP and RJ.
Azul has not yet confirmed how many flights it plans to operate on each route daily, and how operations will be distributed. It is worth noting that the new slots, which enable the growth of operations, will be in effect from March 26 to October 28, 2023.
If the company maintains a constant operation of regular flights, without cancellations and delays, ANAC may also grant the 84 slots in the 2023-2024 summer season.
With the change made by ANAC in Congonhas, the expectation is an increase in competition between the companies, as well as an operational increase in one of the busiest airports in Brazil.
The slot allocation decision covers the operations that belonged to Avianca Brasil, an airline that had 41 daily operations. It is still not known when Aena will take over the management of the airport, there will be new redistribution of slots for the coming years.
