Azul

Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras is a Brazilian airline headquartered in Barueri, on the edge of São Paulo. It was set up on 5 May 2008 by David Neeleman, the Brazilian-born founder of JetBlue, and was the fourth airline he had launched after Morris Air, WestJet and JetBlue. The name, Portuguese for "blue", came out of a public naming contest that year.

Flights began on 15 December 2008 from Campinas–Viracopos to Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Porto Alegre, using two Embraer 190s and three Embraer 195s. The founding idea was to stimulate demand with frequent service to Brazilian cities that were poorly served at the time, rather than to compete head-on on the busiest trunk routes. Campinas remains a hub, alongside Belo Horizonte–Confins and Recife.

Growth by acquisition and new aircraft

Azul announced the purchase of the regional carrier TRIP Linhas Aéreas on 28 May 2012; the merger was completed on 6 May 2014, when the TRIP brand was retired. A codeshare with United Airlines was signed in January 2014, and Azul's first scheduled international flights, to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, started in December 2014. In 2015 it agreed deals for Airbus A320neo and Embraer 195-E2 aircraft, and in 2020 it bought TwoFlex, a feeder operator flying small aircraft. By November 2025 Azul and its regional arm Azul Conecta served 150 destinations in Brazil, Argentina, Curaçao, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain, the United States and Uruguay.

Azul's position on the low-cost spectrum is not clear-cut. It started with low fares and a single-type regional jet fleet, but it now flies widebody aircraft to the United States and Europe, sells a loyalty programme and package holidays, and in its second-quarter 2026 results described a strategic focus on premium demand and high-yield customers. It is better read as a hybrid carrier than as a pure low-cost airline.

Restructuring

Azul filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States on 28 May 2025, citing higher costs. While the case was under way, talks with Abra Group, the controlling shareholder of GOL, came to an end. The two sides had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding on 15 January 2025 about a possible combination of Azul and GOL; on 25 September 2025 Azul announced that those discussions, and its codeshare with GOL, had been terminated. The court confirmed Azul's reorganisation plan on 19 December 2025, and the company emerged from Chapter 11 on 20 February 2026. United Airlines took part in the equity raise at emergence, and American Airlines agreed to invest through warrants, subject to antitrust approval.

The company calls 2026 a transition year. In the second quarter it flew 10.6% less capacity than a year earlier, cutting further because of higher fuel prices, and said modest growth would resume from the fourth quarter. It also said it was phasing out wet-leased flying, aiming to operate only its own aircraft and crews in 2027. On 24 October 2026 it announced a new financing facility for fuel payments.

Fleet

Azul runs a mixed fleet sized for very different markets. At 30 June 2026 it had 155 aircraft available to schedule, down from 176 a year earlier: five Airbus widebodies, 53 Airbus narrowbodies, 42 Embraer E2s, eight first-generation Embraer E-Jets, 23 ATR turboprops and 24 Cessna Caravans. Over the previous twelve months 17 older E-Jets, six ATRs, five widebodies, two narrowbodies and two Cessnas left the operation. Excluding the Cessnas, average fleet age was 7.3 years, and about 94% of domestic capacity was flown with newer-generation aircraft.