When it comes to commercial aviation in South America, Brazil has long been considered one of the region’s key markets. The country is very well connected by air, with both low-cost carriers and full-service airlines providing direct links to both short and long-haul destinations. When it comes to the latter of these sectors, Europe is one of the most important markets for Brazilian aviation.
A numerical overview
Indeed, scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that there are some 2,766 passenger flights scheduled on routes between Europe and Brazil in January 2025, representing an average of almost 90 per day. These services will collectively offer grand totals of 853,501 seats and 4,543,725,962 available seat miles (ASMs), underlining the importance and size of the market.
In January 2024, there were 2,447 passenger flights scheduled between Europe and Brazil, meaning that the figure this time around represents a 13% increase. Meanwhile, seat capacity and available seat miles are both up by 13.1% compared to the 754,738 and 4,017,427,030 that were respectively offered in January 2024. That being said, who operates the most flights? Let’s find out!
TAP sits at the top of the tree
Given Portugal’s strong historical and cultural connections to Brazil, it comes as little surprise to see that the country’s national airline, TAP Air Portugal
, is operating the most flights between Europe and the South American nation this January. All in all, the Portuguese flag carrier has scheduled 780 flights between Europe and Brazil this January, offering 210,242 seats and 923,800,301 ASMs.
Photo: Joao Fachetti | Shutterstock
This represents a slightly year-on-year increase compared to its coverage in 2024, when it had 765 flights, 207,479 seats, and 914,150,535 available seat miles in this market. Compared to these figures, the totals for January 2025 are up by 2%, 1.3%, and 1.1% respectively. This January, the route from Huberto Delgado Airport (LIS) in Lisbon to São Paulo Guarulhos International (GRU) is comfortably the busiest.
Indeed, TAP has scheduled a whopping 80 passenger flights in each direction on this corridor for January 2025, offering 23,840 seats and 117,173,600 available seat miles. This puts it comfortably ahead of its other Brazilian routes that are served more than once a day on average from the airline’s Lisbon hub, with these being Rio de Janeiro (55 each way), Recife (44 out, 45 in), and Fortaleza (35 each way).
Photo: Matheus Obst | Shutterstock
While Lisbon does account for the vast majority of TAP’s Brazilian traffic, Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO) in Porto does handle two TAP routes to the country. These serve São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with 13 flights each way on the former route, and nine outbound and 10 inbound flights on the latter. In April 2025, TAP will further boost its Brazilian coverage with the resumption of flights to Porto Alegre.
LATAM flies all over Europe
LATAM Airlines Brasil, which serves as the Brazilian brand of the wider LATAM Airlines Group, also has considerable coverage when it comes to connecting its home country to the European market. This January, the carrier has scheduled 509 flights, 181,532 seats, and 1,011,276,728 available seat miles on routes between Europe and Brazil, with each of these metrics being more than 10% up on 2024.
Photo: Joao Fachetti | Shutterstock
Interestingly, the airline’s top European route is the same as that of TAP Air Portugal, with LATAM’s 57 flights in each direction on the corridor between São Paulo and Lisbon emphasizing the importance of this transatlantic aerial corridor. LATAM Airlines Brasil will offer 20,458 seats and 100,551,070 available seat miles each way on the route this month, flying the 
Boeing
787-9 and 777-300ER.
LATAM Airlines Brasil’s other European route with an average of more than one flight a day also serves the Iberian peninsula, but, rather than flying to Portugal, its destination is, instead, located in neighboring Spain. The airport in question is Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD), and LATAM has scheduled 39 flights on this route in each direction. These flights also originate in São Paulo.
Photo: Travers Lewis | Shutterstock
In terms of European airports with daily flights from São Paulo, LATAM Airlines Brasil serves London Heathrow (LHR) and Frankfurt (FRA), with Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) being just one rotation short, on 30 round trips for January 2025. The carrier also has a keen presence in Italy, with 27 rotations from São Paulo to Rome (FCO) and 26 to Milan (MXP), with Barcelona (BCN) completing the list on 13.
Air France serves four Brazilian routes
Next on the list is Air France, which has a more concentrated offering of just four routes between its main hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Brazill. Collectively, this quirky quartet of corridors will be served by 284 flights this January, offering 91,992 seats and 502,782,936 available seat miles in the process. This represents huge growth compared to 2024, with the metrics being up by:
Flights – 34%.
Seats – 32.5%.
Available Seat Miles – 29.1%.
Photo: Matheus Obst | Shutterstock
Much like TAP Air Portugal and LATAM Brasil, São Paulo is the most important Brazilian destination for Air France, with the French flag carrier and 
SkyTeam
founding member flying twice a day between there and Paris CDG. These 62 flights in each direction offer 18,388 seats and 107,183,652 available seat miles each way, and are equally split between the Airbus A350-900 and the Boeing 777-300ER.
Galeão Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (GIG) in Rio de Janeiro is the only other Brazilian destination that Air France serves more than once a day on average. Indeed, this January, the airline has scheduled 44 round trips between there and Paris CDG, offering 15,908 seats and 90,532,428 available seat miles each way. Of these, 36 will be operated by the 777-300ER, and eight by the 777-200ER.
Photo: Soos Jozsef | Shutterstock
In terms of Air France’s two Brazilian routes that are served less than daily, Fortaleza Pinto Martins International Airport (FOR) is the more popular of the pair. Indeed, this facility will see 23 rotations this month, split between 14 with the Airbus
A350-900 and nine with the Boeing 777-200ER. Meanwhile, Salvador Bahia Airport (SSA) is served solely by Air France’s A350-900s, with 13 rotations scheduled.
Two routes for ITA Airways
While ITA Airways is only scheduled to serve a pair of Brazilian routes this January, frequencies on these corridors are high, with one being operated daily, and the other twice a day. Overall, the airline has scheduled 186 flights on these routes this year, offering 55,582 seats and 322,158,272 available seat miles. Compared to January 2024, this is the same number of flights, with seats and ASMs down 1.1%.
Photo: Angel DiBilio | Shutterstock
The destination of the route that ITA Airways serves twice daily from its hub at Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO), as you might have guessed based on the analysis covered thus far, is, of course, São Paulo. Of the 62 round trips that the Italian flag carrier will be operating on this corridor in January 2025, 36 will use the Airbus A330-900 from the A330neo series, and 26 have the A350-900.
According to current fleet data made available by aeroLOPA, ITA Airways configures both of these twin-engine widebody aircraft with three-class seating layouts. For the A330-900, this setup consists of 30 business class flatbeds, 24 premium economy recliners, and 237 economy class seats. Meanwhile, the A350-900 can seat 33 business class passengers, 24 in premium economy, and 262 in economy.
Photo: Karolis Kavolelis | Shutterstock
ITA Airways’ other Brazilian route this January will connect Rome Fiumicino Airport with Rio de Janeiro on a daily basis, with 31 flights in each direction offering 9,021 seats and 51,293,406 available seat miles each way. These flights operate overnight in both directions, with the outbound sector having a scheduled block time of 12 hours and 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the return takes 11 hours and five minutes.
A different approach for Azul
While Azul will serve its two European routes in January from the popular destination of São Paulo, it will do so from a different airport. Indeed, the carrier’s facility of choice in this regard is Viracopos Campinas International (VCP), which is situated to the northwest of the Brazilian city. This January, Azul has scheduled 167 flights, 46,031 seats, and 241,537,851 ASMs on its routes to and from Europe.
Photo: Alexandre Doumenjou | Airbus
Across all three of these metrics, these figures represent year-on-year growth of just under 20% when compared to the totals for January 2024. The most popular of Azul’s two European routes, predictably enough, serves the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon, with 52 outbound and 53 inbound flights scheduled on the corridor this January. These are split between the older A330-200 and newer A330-900 models.
Meanwhile, Azul’s other European route in January 2025 connects Viracopos with Paris, but, rather than serving the aforementioned Charles de Gaulle Airport, the airline’s facility of choice is Paris Orly (ORY). This route will operate on a daily basis this January, with Azul choosing to split the 31 round trips between 17 with the 298-seat Airbus A330-900 and 14 with the 244/271-seat A330-200.
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Publish date : 2024-12-23 16:00:00
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Author : theamericannews
Publish date : 2024-12-24 05:48:17
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