MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Voepass announces major board reshuffle after Aug. 9 crash

The company's CEO will also take over as Chief Operations Officer (COO)

Brazilian carrier Voepass Wednesday announced a major Board of Directors reshuffle in the aftermath of the Aug. 9 accident of an ATR-72 aircraft flying in from Cascavel crashed in Vinhedo while approaching Sao Paulo's Guarulhos Airport. All 62 occupants of the aircraft were killed. Among those resigning were the heads of the maintenance (Eric Cônsoli), operations (Marcel Moura), and operational safety (David Faria) department,s and their replacements have already been chosen but are awaiting the National Civil Aviation Agency's (ANAC) nod.

 Voepass co-founder and CEO José Luís Felício Filho will now take over also as chief operating officer (COO). The airline, which has been in business for 29 years, reaffirmed in a statement its commitment to safety and quality in regional aviation, connecting cities in the interior to major centers and contributing to the country's economic and social development. In the last three years, the company formerly known as Passaredo has carried 2.7 million passengers on around 66,000 flights.

Voepass ”president (CEO) and co-founder, José Luiz Felício Filho, assumes the executive leadership and direct management of operations, maintaining the position of President and accumulating the Head of Operations as COO (Chief Operating Officer),“ the company's statement read. ”Felício has been a pilot for more than 30 years and is the company's longest-serving commander with more than 10,000 flight hours. He has been at the helm of the company since 2004, building a foundation with solid guidelines and always guided by the best international practices to guarantee everyone's operational safety,” the document went on.

According to preliminary reports, heavy icing on the wings of the twin turboprop French-built aircraft was the most plausible cause of the accident, which has been deemed the most serious one in Brazilian commercial aviation since 2007.