MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Azul to operate daily Belo Horizonte-Ezeiza nonstop flight

Azul is a Brazilian low-cost carrier which will serve the Belo Horizone-Ezeiza route with Embraer 195 aircraft

Over 1,200 reservations were registered during first week after services were made available, Fabián Lombardo, the company's representative in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, announced. The company will fly daily from Belo Horizonte to Buenos Aires (Ezeiza) starting March 6.

 The Argentine Chamber of Tourism welcomed the new service as it will bring in more people from Brazil, which is the main source of Argentina's foreign tourism.

Azul is a Brazilian low-cost carrier. It ranks third in number of passengers transported and domestic destinations according to Brazil's ANAC (National Civil Aviation Agency) and will serve the new route with 118-seat Embraer 195 aircraft departing from Belo Horizonte at 12:15, arriving at 3:45 p.m. at Buenos Aires (Ezeiza), returning from Ezeiza at 16.25 p.m.  to arrive at Belo Horizonte at 20.05.

The carrier thus joins Gol and Latam, the other two Brazilian companies that fly to and from different destinations in Argentina, with 7 weekly flights, far below Gol's 76 and Latam's 71. Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral add over 100 weekly flights between the two countries.

Gol, which has consolidated its position as Brazil's largest air carrier in 2016, according to ANAC, as it reached 31.4% market share, above Latam's 30.5% and Azul's 24, 7%, will start direct flights between Ezeiza and Manaus as of next February 4. In 2016 Gol was the company to transport the most passengers in Brazil for the third consecutive year, with more than 30.7 million customers. And it shall always be the first airline in South America to ever offer on-board internet.

Buenos Aires will be Azul's seventh international destination, the others being Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Lisbon, Montevideo and Cayenne, with operations to and from Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia to commence shortly.