Avion Express, globally leading narrow-body ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance) and charter airline, has officially started the process to obtain an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) in Brazil.
Darius Kajokas, Avion Express CEO, emphasizes the company’s strategic intent to expand its global presence in markets which are counter-cyclical to Europe. He states, “While Avion Express, as a professional and reliable ACMI airline, has firmly established itself in Europe, our strategic focus now extends to other markets: Latin America, Southeast Asia, and beyond. ACMI would be a rather novel concept for the Brazilian market, which approximately has 100 million passengers per annum. Our services will create additional tools for local Brazilian airlines and tour operators to reach higher operational efficiencies throughout the year with a substantial positive impact on their Financial Structure and cashflow, replicating successful similar structures in place in Europe and other regions, taking into account the long trajectory, experience, and reliability of our Company. Our footprint in the region has been recently expanding in different markets, making Brazil the next natural step in the region with a new and different approach to the market. This strategic decision by Avion Express is also aligned to the initiatives launched by the Brazilian Government through ANAC to enter the Brazilian market under the “Voo Simple” and “Fly2Brazil” initiatives, which facilitate and speed up the certification processes, based on our current AOCs in Europe and global experience.”
For the start-up airline in Brazil, Avion Express will utilize part of the aircraft currently kept on its European AOCs, benefiting from the reverse seasonality of the markets. Looking ahead, the CEO of Avion Express reveals, “We aim to start operating in Brazil by Q4 2024. The operations will start with 5-10 aircraft, and we have an ambition to scale up Avion Express Brasil to 25 aircraft by 2027/2028.”
Avion Express Brasil attracted to its team two local seasonal airline executives – Paulo Tarter, who is taking the position of Chief Operations Officer, and Ruy Carlos Nogueira Lotz, who is taking the position of Chief Technical Officer. The company is expanding its team further with local talents in-line with certification, and later – operational, stages.
The expansion of Avion Express is backed by its parent company, Avia Solutions Group, the world’s largest ACMI provider with a 199-aircraft fleet operating on all continents of the world. The group holds nine AOCs in Europe and recently established new airlines, BBN Airlines Thailand and BBN Airlines Indonesia, expanding its worldwide presence.
