US Carriers to Build Links to Brazil

American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have applied to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to operate more flights into Brazil by the end of this year. The request follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Brazilian and US aviation authorities in March which should lead to the full liberalisation of air services between the two countries. At the moment restrictions remain in place under the transitional arrangement, but by 2013 all legislative barriers could be removed, including the opening of rights to fly to the likes of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

There are currently more than 200 weekly flights between the two countries providing almost 50,000 seats. As the table below shows, American Airlines already offers service on nine routes and accounts for the largest share of traffic between the two destinations with 30.7 per cent of the estimated 3.5 million O&D passengers that travelled between the two countries last year. This is an expanding market, up 22.8 per cent on the previous year and TAM Airlines and US Airways have already announced plans to add further flights in the coming months.

In its official application to the DOT, American Airlines is seeking rights to offer a further ten weekly rotations from Miami International, starting from December. It plans to boost its four times weekly links to Brasilia and Belo Horizonte to a daily schedule from December 15 and introduce a new four times weekly flight to Manaus from June 14. "Our proposed new service will give our customers even more travel options to Brazil, Latin America's largest economy," said Will Ris, Vice President - Government Affairs, American Airlines. Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines also plans to serve Manaus with a daily service from its Atlanta hub as well as adding two rotations to São Paulo, bring this schedule up to a daily frequency.

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