Azul Linhas Aéreas, one of the largest airlines in South America, celebrated the delivery of another E195-E2 jet a few days ago, the fifth of its kind received from Embraer in 2024.
With the new aircraft, the Brazilian carrier said it has 205 aircraft in operation, 14 of which were added this year.
However, a significant portion of its aircraft are actually out of service, some of them for months and at airports that are not part of its main facilities.
This is a different situation from when a carrier stores some aircraft amid lower passenger demand.
The most unexpected location is the empty Bauru Arealva Airport, in the southern region of the country.
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The city receives two daily flights from the Viracopos hub operated by ATR 72 turboprops, in addition to weekly departures to destinations in northern Brazil.
However, recent drone images have captured nine Azul aircraft parked in airport yards (the author of the photos could not be identified until this article was published).
Aircraft returned by Breeze, Azul’s “sister” airline
In Bauru, there were four ATR 72-600s that began to be flown there in September, the most recent arriving at the airport on the 15th.
As for the E195s, the aircraft landed between mid-August and November. There was also an E195-E2, but it only stayed at the airport for two days and has already returned to service, according to ADS-B records.
In addition to the airline’s own aircraft, there are three Embraer E195s in Bauru with the livery of Breeze Airways, Azul’s “sister” airline. The jets already have Brazilian registrations and were recently returned by the US airline, which replaced them with the Airbus A220.
Azul also uses another airport, Pampulha, in the city of Belo Horizonte, to store six other aircraft, five E195s and one ATR 72-600.
There were also some aircraft that had been parked for some time at Viracopos, but they were probably undergoing maintenance services.
Global crisis in the supply chain
While there is an infrastructure for maintenance services in Pampulha, in Bauru, the aircraft are apparently just parked, since the airport does not have hangars or any area for MRO services.
But why is Azul not flying so many aircraft? Are they about to be returned to their owners? Is there excess seat capacity at the company?
We asked the airline for clarification, which responded vaguely, suggesting that it was a problem with parts.
“Azul emphasizes that the aviation sector is facing a global crisis in relation to the supply chain, the lack of parts and the availability of engines, leading airlines around the world to ground hundreds of aircraft,” said the airline.
“According to Cirium, a consultancy specializing in aviation data and analysis, more than 600 aircraft were grounded this year by just one engine manufacturer. This number increases when other manufacturers are taken into account,” the response added.
Azul also claims that it is expanding its offering, 17% higher in October compared to the same period in 2023, and that it will offer more than 3,000 extra flights during the high season in South America.
Grounded aircraft, certain losses
In fact, the arrival of 14 aircraft to the fleet this year increased the seating capacity since most of them are larger aircraft.
However, it is worth remembering that Azul only recently reached agreements with the lessors of its fleet after accumulating short-term debts.
In other words, if there is one thing that brings high losses, it is having aircraft not flying and in this regard, it is understood that the Brazilian airline would be losing a lot of money with inactive aircraft.
