With the crisis caused by the new coronavirus suspended, airlines began to reduce flights across the country to the minimum necessary. In Araçatuba, since last week, VoePass flights had already been cancelled.
Yesterday (25), Azul also announced the stoppage of work, and next Saturday, Gol will also no longer operate in the city. The suspensions should be valid until the beginning of May.
The three companies offer options on their websites for passengers who had purchased trips to clear up their doubts, reschedule or cancel the flight.
In short, Dario Guarita Airport, in Araçatuba, has recently been renovated. The location only received flights from the Azul company, and in the second half of 2019, it also started to have VoePass and Gol.
However, the works that were carried out at the airport include asphalt recovery of headlands 05 (towards the Habiana condominium to the airport) and 23, in the opposite direction. In total, improvements were made to 11,000 square meters of asphalt. The terminal was also painted and the lighting was reinforced, in addition to other minor maintenance.
COMPANIES REDUCED AIRLINES FOR ONE DAILY FLIGHT FOR EACH CAPITAL DUE TO CORONAVIRUS
After discussions between the government, Anac (National Aviation Agency) and companies, it was decided that there will be at least one daily flight to and from the capitals.
Gol was the first to announce, this Tuesday (24), that it will only operate 50 daily flights between São Paulo's international airport, in Guarulhos, and the other 26 capitals. The new routes start on Saturday (28) and will run until the beginning of May.
All of the company's regular regional and international operations will be suspended. The reduction represents a reduction of 92% from the domestic market and 100% from the international market.
On Azul, there will be only 70 daily flights to 25 cities. The plan takes effect from this Wednesday (25) and extends until the end of April.
According to the company, the flights will also “allow the transport of cargo, such as medicines and organs, and of health professionals who work directly in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic”.
Latam has not yet released its new routes, but it should also announce them soon.
So although companies need to submit the flight review plan to Anac (National Aviation Agency), which approves the reduction, which analyzes the proposals and makes adjustments when necessary. The idea is that there is no overlapping of flights, for example.
Therefore, the network reduction was one of the measures discussed this Monday between the Ministry of Infrastructure, Anac and airlines.
Coronavirus suspends flights
Unlike other countries, which have closed airspace, the Brazilian government wants to keep flights to a minimum to ensure the movement of health professionals and the supply of cities, especially with medicines and medical equipment.
The companies accepted the scheme, but ask the government to open special lines of financing.
However, estimates made at the meeting by the companies indicate that, even operating with only one daily flight, they will have an estimated load factor of around 40%, which means that they will be registering a loss.
According to Abear, the association that represents the companies, the forecast is that by the end of this week, the demand for domestic flights will be zero (reduction of 100%) due to the coronavirus. Demand for international flights was already at this level earlier this week.
Although the entity's president, Eduardo Sanovicz, said that the companies are also repatriating Brazilians this week with special flights.
“So companies have already brought about 16,000 Brazilians,” said Sanovicz. “But there are still thousands to bring back. In Peru alone there are 300 people.”
