UK-Brazil routes
 

I gather that the UK/Brazil bilateral air services agreement, which has long been one of the UK's most restrictive, has now been changed to double the number of flights.

Does anyone know which UK airline if any will use the UK frequencies? This must be a very profitable route for BA at the moment, if its fares and LF are anything to go by - I doubt they'll welcome the competition!

thanks

Virgin to Rio?

Well the BA rumour mill (and how we love some of the stories that come out of this place) has it that Sao Paulo will shortly be served with a dedicated terminator service while the Rio and Buenos Aires get their own non-stop services. Now...the question to be asked is where are the planes coming from????

That would be great if true, but sounds unlikely. BA has been withdrawing most of its Latin American routes in favour of sending passengers via Madrid on Iberia (which, from an SLF perspective, is not nice...)

TAM, now Brazil's largest airline, is due to start to LHR from 28th October, with A330s. Whether that's in addition to Varig or on its own depends on, well, whether RG lasts that long. Certainly, TAM will give BA some competition, as its service product is said to be better than RG's, which has declined over the past few years (very little IFE on MD11s).

As for IB, I don't think that would be a very welcome; I've heard some very unfavourable comments about its inflight service to South America.

England to get to Brazil. You have to go via Portugal and Spain or France:)

Or use MyTravel

I've heard BA from LHR or LH via FRA are the better ways to travel to Brazil, though the RG 777s are ok if travelling club class.

AlphaWhiskyRomeo

Yeah but will they be around for much longer???

big doubts if the LHR RG service will be around for much longer.
TAM dont yet seem to have offered any idea of fares or schedules. They keep saying "end of October.."

The MYT services could be good but are only seasonal and must be only single config to the north coast (Recife/Fortaleza). Maybe this ought to be considered all year round commercial.

Yes it will be interesting to see if BA throw any more capacity at South America. It has been rumoured...

Fares and schedules available on TAM website, LHR route starting October 28th.

XSB

I use AF to Brasil and they're usually ok.

Daily 744s I think to Rio and Sao Paulo.

Yes, further to my earlier post I have just viewed the TAM website.
A discussion forum on another website suggests the fares quoted are in the wrong currency. They do look extremely cheap to me..!!...

Any more truth or depth in VS commencing operations to Brazil?
Seems like a worthwhile venture subject to bilaterals.

When did AF goto B744 on the route? It was previously A340 and B772.

Wow! They do seem very cheap. But surely if you bought them in reals they would have to honour that price? That has me thinking of another trip to Brazil before they realise their mistake!

XSB

AF was 744 to Rio last August when I last travelled it and still is today from what I can tell.

Hi,

The MyTravel service to SSA is year round and is operated by an A330 with 49 Premiair Gold seats and the remainder being economy.

Thanks
Thomas_Cook_757-300

The UK to Brasil route has been littered over the past half-century with a series of failed airline operations, of which British South American Airways was probably the first and the demise of Varig only the latest. It's not the gold mine route many think.

There's not a lot of high-yield business traffic, but in addition to traffic potential the instability of the local currencies has led to all sorts of difficulties getting funds back to the airline's base. And if you can't get at the money your passengers gave you, what's the point?

It's these same currency issues that have done down many Latin American airlines over the years.

Rio is no longer the main destination of choice in Brasil, what business traffic there is tends to be concentrated on Sao Paolo.

Flew to Santiago and Buenos Aires with LH Business Class last year on the A340-600. Outstanding A/C, outstanding service, significantly cheaper than BA and you can connect from any UK LH base essentially for free, and I'm a BA exec club member!

But neither Santiago nor Buenos Aires are in Brazil!!! LH only do FRA-GRU if memory serves me correctly, with a B744.

XSB

Apologies, thought it was more of a South America question. LH are now twice a day FRA-GRU. The 340-600 continues to Santiago and the 744 flies on to EZE. Guess they are trying to split the capital cities between the 2 aircraft. Makes sense as both flights last year were completely full, especially in Business when the SCL went via EZE.