U.S. Carriers Expand Nonstop Service To Rio, Sao Paulo - 2001-02-26
<B>U.S. Carriers Expand Nonstop Service To Rio, Sao Paulo</B>
By Robert Curley
Travelers eyeing Brazil for business now have more airline options from which to choose.
Delta Air Lines in December inaugurated new, nonstop service between its hub in Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro, making it the only U.S. airline to offer direct flights to Brazil's second-largest city.
Delta, which already offers nonstops to Sao Paulo, will operate Boeing 767-300ER aircraft on the thrice-weekly Atlanta-Rio route and will feature its BusinessElite service, which includes five-course meals, personal video screens and laptop power points, on both the Rio and Sao Paulo flights.
The carrier also recently added Atlanta-based nonstop flights to Bogota, Colombia, and Santiago, Chile, and has its sights set on adding Buenos Aires, Argentina, later this year. "This new service is a key component of Delta's plan to fully develop its Latin American network, particularly from the Atlanta gateway," said Delta senior vice president of network management Mark A.P. Drusch.
But Delta soon may have company at Rio's Santos Dumont International Airport: Continental Airlines recently won U.S. Department of Transportation approval to begin weekly flights between Newark and Rio, with continuing service to Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The airline has yet to announce when it will begin that service.
Continental is modernizing its equipment on existing routes to Brazil, replacing DC-10s on all flights between Houston and Sao Paulo with 767-200s. The carrier on March 2 will offer seven weekly flights from Houston to Sao Paulo; previously, Continental had flown that route four times a week. The airline also will replace DC-10s with 767-400s on its New York-Sao Paulo route. The 767-400s are already in use on Continental's New York-Rio flights.
American Airlines in December also received final DOT approval to operate seven weekly flights between New York JFK and Rio.
<B>Gol Kicks Off Operations</B>
Meanwhile, modeling itself after U.S. low-fare legend Southwest Airlines, Gol Airlines on Jan. 15 flew its first commercial flight between Brazilia and Sao Paulo. Gol also will provide service to Rio, Porto Alegre, Florianopolis, Belo Horizonte and Salvador.
Gol will compete with such established Brazilian regional carriers as TAM, Transbrazil, Varig and Vasp by flying a fleet consisting exclusively of new Boeing 737-700s, which Gol CEO Constantino Olivera said offered the "advanced technologies, reliability, comfort and economics we need to be a successful, low-cost operation." The airline is expected to have 10 such aircraft in service by year-end, with about 50 flights daily.
One way that Gol will keep costs down is by operating an Internet-only reservations system. Flight arrangements can be made via the airline's Web site, www.voegol.com.br, which is in Portuguese only.