Although the airline is still awaiting for the permission from the Brazilian authorities, German company Condor is already selling tickets for its new direct flight from Frankfurt in Germany to Rio de Janeiro. The airline will use a Boeing 767-300ER on the route. Right now Condor flies to Salvador de Bahia and to Recife.

The expansion of Copa continues and so does its investment on Brazil. The airline has announced that starting June 2012 it will fly from its hub in Panama City to Recife, Las Vegas, Curaçao and Liberia. The flight to Recife begins on 23 June 2012 and it will have four weekly frequencies. Recife becomes the seventh destination served by Copa, currently flying to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Manaus and Porto Alegre.

It is quite remarkable how Brazilian airlines have avoided decentralizing its internacional flights whereas Copa and Tap have been quite succesful doing precisely that, offering international flights to and from multiple Brazilian airports.

Turkish Airlines wants to fly from São Paulo to Buenos Aires in 2012. It would be an extension of its current Istanbul-São Paulo flight. The company is awaiting for the permission from the authorities to begin operating the flight. If approved it will be yet another choice to fly between Guarulhos and Ezeiza.

Information from Panrotas.

A recent text at the Contato Radar forum had an incredible figure: Viracopos international airport in Campinas, state of São Paulo, experienced a 1,025% growth in passengers in a period of just 7 years. During 2024, 675,796 used the airport. In 2011 it is expected that figure will reach 7,600,000. Viracopos is the main hub for the airline Azul. It is also expected it will become the largest Brazilian airport at the beginning of the 2020′s.

Bolivian airline Aerosur will be adding on 29 February 2012 three new weekly flights between Guarulhos international airport in São Paulo and Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, continuing onto Panama City. Departures from Brazil will be on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the flight will be operated using a Boeing 737-300.

The airline will mantain the two routes it currently operates: São Paulo – Cochabamba and São Paulo – Santa Cruz de la Sierra – Cochabamba – La Paz.

Uruguay’s national carrier Pluna is increasing its presence in Brazil – it is estimated that in three year’s time Brazil will generate half of the revenue of the company. The airline wants to launch six new routes from Montevideo to Brazilian destinations. Out of those six new destinations, three have already been chosen: Campo Grande (in Mato Grosso do Sul), Caxias do Sul (in Rio Grande do Sul) and Londrina (in Paraná).

Pluna’s expansion plans were the subject of a feature at Brasil Econômico, a news item when learned about through Contato Radar.

It would seem Qatar Airways, currently flying from Doha to São Paulo, intends to launch in 2012 a direct flight from Doha to Rio de Janeiro. The source is a news item from O Globo reproduced at Contato Radar. The Gulf airline follows the trail of its neighbour Emirates, a company that, as we informed here at D Airfare, will fly from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro in 2012.

In Brazil the term “ponte aérea” (air shuttle) refers to the frequent flights between the Santos Dumont airport in Rio de Janeiro and the Congonhas airport in São Paulo – both airports are located within the city boundaries.

A recent research mentioned by the Valor Econômico newspaper, based on an analysis of airfares on the route, revealed the Rio-São Paulo connection is the most expensive in the world. Second place is for Dubai-Doha while Tokyo-Sapporo takes third.

It is being reported that Argentina’s Aerolíneas Argentinas intends to fly from Rio de Janeiro to Salta, with a stopover at Puerto Iguazú. The flight would avoid Buenos Aires. An agreement between the authorities of Salta and the company needs to be reached before the flight can be confirmed.

It wasn’t that long ago that Aerolíneas announced a new route to Brazil that never came true (Aerolíneas Argentinas not confirming its new Buenos Aires-Curitiba flight). We hope that won’t be the case with the new Salta flight.

We announced it here at DAirfare. KLM (KLM flying direct from Amsterdam to Rio de Janeiro) and Lufthansa (Lufthansa to return to Rio de Janeiro flying from Frankfurt) were heading back to Rio. That announcement is now a reality and both companies are flying from Frankfurt and Amsterdam to Rio de Janeiro. Don’t forget January will bring Emirates to Rio too (Emirates to fly from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro in 2012).

We hope the new flights obtain good occupancy rates – that way Brazilian airlines will increase the number of domestic connections from Rio international airport. And we pray that Galeão/Tom Jobim airport, recently on the news for the wrong reasons, will be able to cope satisfactorily with the new incoming flights.