On May 16, 2023, a night with few clouds and freezing temperatures of 13°C, we boarded the Azul flight 8701 from Paris-Orly Airport (ORY) to Viracopos in Campinas (V). The aircraft chosen, an Airbus A350-900 with registration PR-AOW (the second A350 to be incorporated into Azul's fleet), is baptized “Where Dreams Fly” would be chosen for our flight to Brazil.
At first I was concerned that the flight would depart from Orly airport, which is a little further away from the main Parisian airport, Charles de Gaulle (CDG). However, accessing the terminal is very easy and fast. We took a train (called the RER) to Antony station and from there we paid €11,5 for the OrlyVal ticket; a shuttle system between the train station and the airport terminals.
The journey takes 6 minutes to terminals 1, 2 or 3 and another 1 minute to terminal 4 (from where Azul flights depart).
Check-in was pretty smooth, practically empty. There were several attendants available and all spoke Portuguese very well, fortunately because my knowledge of French is restricted to Bonjour and Merci.
The queue at security and immigration were deserted as this was the last flight of the day at the airport, as the airport closes at 23pm and our scheduled departure time was 22:15pm.
Boarding started on time and was very organised, starting with Priorities by law customers, followed by Business class and sections 1, 2 and 3.
I settled into the comfortable 7H business class seat by the window. Commissioner Alexandre welcomed me on board, offered a welcome drink, a mix of nuts and took my order for dinner, helping me with the extensive wine list and suggesting one that best harmonized with the dish I chose and what else come close to my taste.
The landing in Viracopos was estimated for 04:30 am Brasilia time, and in a gesture of pure consideration, the crew asked everyone if they would like to be woken up for breakfast, which would take place at around 1 am before landing. Of course I asked to be awakened, I couldn't miss the chance to show you the breakfast service 🤭.
Commander Saldanha made his welcome announcement, saying that we would have 11 hours of flight ahead of us and that the weather en route was good, as well as Campinas, which was waiting for us with a temperature of 11°C, around 2°C unless he was in Paris that night.
Very punctually at 22:15, on schedule, the A350 started its pushback from terminal 4 at Orly and then took its taxi to runway 07, the second largest at Orly, measuring 3.320 meters in length.
At 22:37, Commander Saldanha revved up the powerful Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines of Azul's Airbus A350 and took off smoothly with a current weight of approximately 253 tons.
Around 50 minutes after take-off, the in-flight service began, with the dinner that the flight attendants had written down when we were still on French soil. My choice for dinner was a green salad with cherry tomatoes and croutons for starters, a chicken fricassee in tomato basil sauce accompanied by mixed rice, string beans and roasted cherry tomatoes. For dessert, a chocolate mousse with a crunchy bottom.
In addition, the dish came with bread that seemed to have been taken out of the oven a short time ago, along with a very tasty French butter.
The chicken was divine, it had a very tasty spinach filling and went very well with the fricassee sauce. The dessert was delicious, with a perfectly crunchy crust and a semisweet chocolate cream on top that gave a very balanced and tasty touch to the dish, along with the 10-year-old tawny port I ordered, everything was even tastier.
When serving dessert, the flight attendants also leave a bottle of water with a very welcoming message, saying “If you need it, just call”.
Azul's entertainment system never disappoints, with a 16-inch screen filled with several series and movies and also a page with songs, but I found the variety of songs to be lacking.
The games are really cool and make us spend a lot of time with them, even more so with the control on the seat full of buttons that make the interactivity even more pleasant.
On that same control there are buttons to turn on the reading light, turn on or off the entertainment screen and even call the flight attendants. Unfortunately the Airbus A350 does not have Wi-Fi like most aircraft operated by Azul on domestic flights.
After takeoff, we climbed to flight level 370 (37.000 feet) and about 6 hours and 45 minutes after takeoff, we climbed to final flight level, 410.
At this altitude, the sky is starry in a way that no words can describe its beauty. Right on the horizon it is possible to see the curvature of the earth, but unfortunately no camera is able to record the beauty of this view the way it really is.
Business class seats are extremely comfortable, wide and with a very comfortable recline control. As soon as we got on the plane, we already found a blanket and pillow in all of them (much more comfortable than those in economy class), in addition to the classic Azul toiletry bag, with socks, eye patches, noise-reducing plugs for the ears, bagtag, moisturizing hand cream, lip balm, toothbrush, toothpaste, tissue paper and a personalized pen by Azul.
The headphones were also very ergonomic, covered the entire ear and had impressive sound quality. As the flight was at dawn, I took the opportunity to leave the seat completely reclined at 180°, to sleep. I could hardly believe I was flying at 41 feet and lying flat on a business class bed.
As the flight attendants on this type of flight are always on international flights, I asked what their preferences were for flying, working or resting. Everyone was unanimous in saying that the A350 is the most comfortable of all due to the low noise level and ample crew rest compartment (nicknamed sarcophagus).
About an hour before landing in Campinas, breakfast was served, where I opted for the omelette stuffed with cheese and a cappuccino. Everything was accompanied by seasonal fruits and an original Parisian croissant. A special highlight for the salt and pepper shakers in Brazilian colors with a very cool design, which gives a special charm to the table.
At 4:34 am Brasilia time, the landing took place at Viracopos International Airport in Campinas, followed by a taxi to stop position A06. Once again reinforcing Azul's excellence in punctuality, the engine shutdown took place at 04:45, exactly on schedule.
After landing, we asked the lead flight attendant and after the captain's authorization we went to see the fantastic flight deck of the Airbus A350. There, we asked the pilots about the differences for the A330 and they told us that in piloting it is practically the same plane, but with much more functionality and with some buttons in different places.
They commented and showed us the differentiated system that the A350 has called BTV (Brake to vacate); this is a software that selects which taxiway the pilots want to clear the runway from and the plane already makes the performance calculations and applies the exact force on the brakes to deliver the plane with 10 knots of speed 10 meters away from the desired taxiway.
All this, according to the pilots, must be done manually using the brake pedals on the A330. We were also told a curiosity that the aircraft's most economical cruising speed is Mach 0.85, that is, 85% the speed of sound.
Overall the flight between Paris and Campinas was fantastic, no turbulence, good food, friendly crew and perfectly on time. If I could rate it 11 I would, but I'll stick to the standard and say it was a 10/10.
The Viracopos – Paris/Orly route is available to enjoy the experience of BLUE flying to the city of light 6 times a week.
*Flight Report written by Júlio Souza with guidance from the Aeroflap Team
