In a surprising move, Abra Group, parent company of Gol Linhas Aéreas, Avianca and Wamos Air, announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Airbus to acquire five A350-900 widebodies.
According to the company, the aircraft, which can carry 310 to 400 passengers, will be used to expand long-haul international operations.
“We are delighted to announce this agreement with Airbus. We believe the arrival of these five A350s, which offer a best-in-class passenger experience, are more fuel efficient and have a lower cost per seat than competing aircraft, will allow us to strengthen our commitment to make travel more accessible and responsible,” said Adrian Nehauser, CEO of Abra Group.
“This also means better prices for customers with better connectivity between our continent and Europe, and will further consolidate Abra as one of the largest and most competitive air transportation groups in Latin America,” added the executive.
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Abra, however, did not detail where the five A350s will fly. Avianca, for example, has a standardized fleet of Boeing 787s, which have lower capacity.
Gol, in turn, follows a fleet philosophy with a single aircraft, the Boeing 737, although it operated with the 767 momentarily.
The airline is undergoing financial restructuring under Chapter 11 in a court in the United States, still without a clear forecast of how it will resolve its high debts amid rumors of a merger with Azul.
One of the solutions sought by Gol to increase its revenues has been to expand international routes, but to what extent flying with the A350 is something safe to generate cash in dollars is unclear.
A350 was rejected by two Brazilian carriers
Abra’s announcement comes after LATAM and Azul tried to operate the A350 on their main routes, but without success.
Even when it was TAM, the current Brazilian division of the LATAM group ordered 27 A350-900s, of which the first arrived in the fleet in December 2015.
But in 2021, amid the pandemic and judicial recovery, LATAM decided to end the operation with the widebody.
Azul also considered the aircraft to reinforce its A330 fleet, but changed its mind when some A350s had already received part of the paint job.
Only in September 2022, the A350-900 was incorporated by the Brazilian airline, which received another second-hand aircraft in December of the same year.
As in LATAM, the widebody did not live up to expectations and was removed from service between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. Unofficial reports point to the high operational cost, only viable on very extensive routes.
Another company that announced interest in the Airbus aircraft was Avianca Brasil, which at the time was controlled by the same group that was in charge of Avianca in Colombia.
The plan, however, did not come to fruition.
