Avianca Brasil S.A.

Avianca Brasil (Portuguese: Avianca Brasil), officially Oceanair Linhas Aéreas S/A, was[3] a Brazilian airline based in Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, Brazil.[4][5] According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), which cancelled its operation, prior to cessation of operations, from January to December 2018 Avianca Brasil had 13.4% of the domestic and 7.3% of the international market share in terms of passengers per kilometer flown,[6] making it the fourth-largest airline both in domestic and international traffic in Brazil. The company slots (landings and take-off permits) were redistributed by Anac. An auction on 10 July 2019 raised R$555.3 million, not enough to pay a debt of R$2.7 billion, although Avianca's bankruptcy was not officially decreed.[7]

OceanAir Linhas Aéreas S.A.
Avianca Brasil
IATA ICAO Callsign
O6 ONE OCEAN AIR
Founded1998 (as OceanAir)
Ceased operations24 May 2019 (suspended operations)
14 July 2020 (bankrupt)
Frequent-flyer programPrograma Amigo
AllianceStar Alliance (affiliate)[1]
Parent companySynergy Group
HeadquartersSão Paulo, Brazil
Key peopleJosé Efromovich, CEO
RevenueUS$720 million (2019)
Employees1687[2]

History

OceanAir

Former OceanAir Fokker 100

The airline was established in 1998 as an air taxi company to operate services for oil companies in the Campos Basin. Its name was then OceanAir and began to operate scheduled services in 2002, between São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Macaé and Campos. Soon afterwards, it became better known to the public with a scheduled flight (no longer operated) connecting Congonhas Airport in São Paulo and Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro via São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport, enabling international passengers from both cities easy access to the country's largest international hub from those cities' more convenient central airports. At the time, OceanAir's fare between São Paulo's airports was cheaper than a taxi and on par with a luxury bus ride.

In 2004, Synergy Group, the owner of OceanAir, bought Colombian airline Avianca, and as a result OceanAir became a feeder for Avianca's flights into Guarulhos. This partnership between the two airlines increased the flow of passengers between Colombia and Brazil. In 2004, Synergy Group also bought VIP Ecuador as part of a strategy to create a continent-wide airline under the Avianca brand. In 2006, a joint venture formed by OceanAir (49%) and Fondo de Inversiones Sustentables (51%) created a new Peruvian airline called Wayraperú, but the airline suspended operations a few months later.

OceanAir started its first international operation to Mexico in 2007, with Boeing 767-300 aircraft, but in April 2008 the flights were discontinued. Since then the airline has concentrated its efforts on the Brazilian domestic market. 5 Airbus A330 and 30 Airbus A320 aircraft were ordered in 2010, a contract worth US$ 2,5 billion. With this fleet growth, Efromovich intended to control 15% of the Brazilian air market in the next decade, including routes to Mexico, Colombia, Africa and the United States.[8]

Avianca Brasil

Former Avianca Brasil Airbus A320-200

On 9 October 2009, Synergy announced that TACA and Avianca would merge. This merger increased OceanAir's feeder operations, already implemented with Avianca in São Paulo, to include TACA in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport, Santos Dumont Airport, Salgado Filho International Airport in Porto Alegre and Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport in Brasilia.

On 26 March 2010 Germán Efromovich announced the rebranding of OceanAir as Avianca Brasil. OceanAir Linhas Aéreas remains the legal name of the airline.[9] This allows Synergy group to further align the operations of OceanAir and Avianca.[10] The first aircraft with the new name started operations on 27 April 2010.[11] The only notable differences between the aircraft of Avianca Colombia and those of Avianca Brasil are the latter's Brazilian registrations and a small Brazilian flag under their cockpit windows.

On 10 November 2010, Star Alliance decided to accept Avianca Holdings to join the network as a member airline. However, Avianca Brasil was rejected at the time due to its outdated IT platforms and an objection by TAM Airlines, which since left Star Alliance to join Oneworld after merging with LAN.[12] Upon TAM's exit, Avianca Brasil officially joined Star Alliance on 22 July 2015 as an affiliate.[13]

On 11 October 2016, the airline took delivery of the first of eight Airbus A320neo being leased from GECAS.[14] Independent from Avianca, the airline increased its market share from 3% in 2009 to 14% in 2018, becoming Brazil's fourth-largest carrier.[15]

On 10 December 2018, Avianca Brasil filed for bankruptcy protection, R$ 100 million (US$26 million) was owed to airports and bank debt grew by 50% in 2018, while United Airlines extended a loan of US$456 million to Avianca owner Synergy Group.[15] Total debts amount to 493 million reais (US$127 million), whereas the first half of 2018 generated 175.6 million reais of losses.[16] On 18 April 2019 Azul cancelled its offer to buy Avianca Brasil, but resubmitted the offer on 13 May.[17][18] On 24 May 2019, ANAC suspended flights of Avianca Brasil, due security reasons.[4] On 24 June 2019, its suspension was officially written in the official Diary by Anac.[19] On 10 July 2019, the auction generated US$147,32 million or R$555,3 million from Gol and Latam, if valid, however the debts are R$2.7 billion.[20]

On 20 August 2019, Star Alliance announced Oceanair Linhas Aéreas S.A.'s (Avianca Brasil) exit from the alliance from 1 September 2019. The departure, however, won't affect Avianca's membership.[21]

Corporate affairs

Even though the legal name of the airline remained OceanAir, it was re-branded as Avianca since it was owned by Synergy Group, which owned Avianca Holdings. The original Avianca of Colombia and Avianca Brasil remained separate legal entities, but in February 2017, it was reported that Avianca Holdings planned to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to fold Avianca Brasil into Avianca Holdings.[22] Its current CEO, Frederico Pedreira, took office in April 2016. José Efromovich, younger brother of Germán Efromovich, President of Avianca Holdings, who had led the company since 2008, took office as chairman of the Board of Directors on the same date.

Destinations

Former codeshare agreements

Avianca Brasil had codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[23]

Former fleet

As of December 2019, the Avianca Brasil fleet included the following aircraft.[26]

Avianca Brasil
Aircraft Out of service Orders Passengers Owner
C Y Total
Fokker 100 2 Abandoned at Congonhas
Airbus A318-100 7 120 120 to be returned soon to Airbus Financial Services
4 Stored at Congonhas Airport PR-ONC, PR-ONH, PR-ONI & PR-ONP
2 Abandoned at São José dos Campos Airport PR-AVL & PR-ONO
1 Abandoned at Brasília Airport PR-ONR[27]
Total 9

Retired fleet

Retired Oceanair/Avianca Brasil fleet
Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Airbus A319-100 4 2010 2019 Returned to Wells Fargo & Aircol 17
Airbus A320-200 29 2011 2019 Returned to owners due to default
Airbus A320neo 12 2016 2019 Returned to owners due to default. All went to Azul Brazilian Airlines.
Airbus A330-200 6 2017 2019
Boeing 737-300 3 2007 2009
Boeing 757-200 1 2007 2008
Boeing 767-300ER 3 2007 2008
Fokker 50 5 2003 2010
Fokker 100 16 2005 2017 Replaced by Airbus A318-100
Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia 7 2001 2008
Learjet 35 1 1998 2013
Learjet 45 1 2004 2014
Learjet 55C 1 2008 2010

Frequent-flyer program

Avianca Brasil had a frequent-flyer program called Programa Amigo.

Accidents and Incidents

  • On August 12, 2010, a Learjet 55C (registered PT-LXO) was damaged in a runway excursion accident at Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport. The aircraft ran off the end of runway 02R into the water of Guanabara Bay. The three occupants were not injured.[28]
  • On March 28, 2014, a Fokker 100 (registered PR-OAF) crashed while landing at Brasília International Airport after the nose landing gear could not be extended. Nobody was harmed in the incident, but the aircraft was written off.

References

  1. "Avianca Brasil". Star Alliance. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  2. "Avianca Brasil deve demitir cerca de 1 mil funcionários em junho" (in Portuguese). G1. 1 June 2019.
  3. "Concessão da Avianca Brasil é oficialmente suspensa pela Anac". Panrotas. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  4. "Anac anuncia suspensão das operações da Avianca Brasil". G1 (in Portuguese). 24 May 2019.
  5. "Directory:World Airlines". Flight International. 10 April 2007. p. 58.
  6. "Demanda e oferta do transporte aéreo" (in Portuguese). Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC). 23 January 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  7. "Justiça dá aval para Anac redistribuir slots da Avianca" (in Portuguese). DN. 6 July 2019.
  8. Exame Magazine, 18 December 2006
  9. Laguna, Eduardo (26 April 2010). "OceanAir passa a se chamar Avianca" (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Valor Online. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  10. Jardim, Lauro (17 March 2010). "Panorama: Radar: Aviação". Veja (in Portuguese). p. 53.
  11. "OceanAir agora é Avianca" (in Portuguese). Avianca. 27 April 2010. Archived from the original on 29 April 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  12. "Will an Azul-TAP partnership skew the alliance dynamics in Brazil as Avianca Brazil joins Star?". CAPA Centre for Aviation. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  13. Leiro, Roberto. "Avianca Brasil Joins Star Alliance". Airways News. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  14. "Avianca Brazil". Airliner World (December 2016): 17. 25 November 2016.
  15. Richard Pedicini (12 December 2018). "Avianca Brasil Files for Bankruptcy". AIN online.
  16. "Brazilian airline Avianca Brasil declares bankruptcy". The Jakarta Post. 12 December 2018.
  17. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/azul-proposes-fresh-bid-for-avianca-brazil-assets-458139/
  18. "Azul desiste de oferta pela Avianca Brasil e acusa rivais de protecionismo". G1 (in Portuguese). 18 April 2019.
  19. "Concessão da Avianca Brasil é oficialmente suspensa pela Anac". Panrotas. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  20. "Gol e Latam arrematam direitos de vôo da Avianca em leilão". G1 (in Portuguese). 10 July 2019.
  21. "Avianca Brasil to Exit Star Alliance". Star Alliance. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  22. "Avianca Holdings: United Air partnership and Synergy infusion raise more questions than answers". CAPA. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  23. "Profile on Avianca Brazil". CAPA. Centre for Aviation. Archived from the original on 1 November 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  24. "Nuovo code share per Alitalia, accordo con Avianca Brasil" [New codeshare agreement for Alitalia with Avianca Brazil]. ttgitalia.com (in Italian). 28 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  25. Dron, Alan (17 June 2016). "Etihad, Avianca Brasil ink new codeshare". Air Transport World. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016.
  26. "Avianca Brasil Fleet Details and History". planespotters.net. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  27. "Airbus A318 Production List". planespotters.net. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  28. "OceanAir Learjet 55C PT-LXO Rio de Janeiro incident". Aviation-Safety.com. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
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