David Neeleman's new Brazilian airline, Azul is chugging right along. The latest word is that the first flights will happen in January of 2009, and to tide us over, the carrier has released its new "corporate identity."
Yet again, we're seeing a lot of JetBlue in Azul. For starters, the livery on these Embraer jets looks familiar. B6 paints its E190s the same way, with blue on the bottom, white on top and a fancy tail pattern. Both airlines also have their web addresses stamped on the sides of their planes. Azul uses the Helvetica typeface--you've seen it at American Apparel, on American Airlines and on the NYC subway--while JetBlue works a slightly different sans serif face--called DIN--to get that jet-set look.
Inside, the similarities continue. Two-by-two leather seats are standard, and Azul plans to be the first Latin American airline with live TV in-flight. (Which JetBlue subsidiary company is providing it? LiveTV.)
Now, we're not saying all this copying is a bad thing; if the JetBlue model ain't broke, don't fix it. Want to join us in Brazil around, say, January 2009 to give Azul a try?
The contest to name David Neeleman's new airline is over, and though Samba was the favorite among Brazilians, the airline mogul is instead going with the second-place name Azul ("Blue"). Of course, his previous venture was JetBlue. Must have a thing for airline names that match his eye color.
Now that the name is out of the way, Neeleman can focus on equipping his 76 new Embraer planes with leather seats and live satellite TV, two of the amenities that helped JetBlue earn so much customer loyalty soon after its first flight in 2000.
The new website for the airline, voeazul.com.br, doesn't offer much just yet, though you can fork over your email address for updates. We've already submitted ours, hoping Neeleman will ping us the second he makes another blue move.
While David Neeleman is working long hours to get a new Brazilian airline up and running, hopefully by next year, a Brazilian priest has been trying to show an easier way to get airborne.
We're guessing that Reverend di Carli thought something like "Who wants to wait around for an airline that doesn't even have a proper name yet," then hooked his chair to hundreds of helium-filled balloons and took off.
Okay, it might not have gone exactly like that, but it seems just as crazy, and the priest is missing over the ocean somewhere after losing his balloons. Seriously. The whole flight was supposed to be a record attempt to raise money, but it's raised hell instead. Now if only Neeleman's airline was already flying, they could help look for the reverend.
David Neeleman is hard at work on his new Brazilian airline, which he hopes to have airborne by 2009. But he needs your help!
In a Branson-esque move, he wants you to pick the name for his new airline, which is temporarily called Você Escolhe (You Choose). All you gotta do is head to the airline's website and pick from names like Azul, Samba, Viva and Abraço. In exchange for voting, you're entered to win a lifetime pass for two on the new carrier.
Neeleman's not stopping with just the name. According to the site, they'll also be putting more stuff up for vote: possible routes, on-board amenities and even the uniforms.
One amenity you won't need to worry about, says O Estado de Sao Paulo, is live TV. The newspaper reports that it'll be part of the new airline, and that in-flight cell phone service may be in the works, too--though it's currently forbidden in Brazil.
UPDATE: The airline will have leather seats and individual seatback LiveTV, a la JetBlue. There's even a contest to name it. Check out the website for David Neeleman's new airline here (in Portuguese).
David Neeleman himself has finally confirmed his plans for a new Brazilian airline...plans we've been watching closely and speculating on for a while now.
The founder of JetBlue Airways announced a new Brazilian airline on Thursday, to begin operating next year with three jets and eventually grow to a fleet of 76 planes flying nationwide.
JetBlue chairman David Neeleman said the opportunity is clear: Latin America's largest nation has a growing passenger travel market dominated by two airlines that face little domestic competition and charge high prices.
"The prices that people pay here in Brazil are 50 percent higher than the prices people pay in the United States. ... Brazil is a country that needs more competition and a different kind of competition."
The as-yet-nameless airline has 36 E-195 jets on order from Embraer. Neeleman confirmed that he has "raised US$150 million (€95 million) for the venture so far from investors in the United States and Brazil." So he hasn't mentioned Branson yet. Yet! There's always room for more to be revelead. You never know...
Looks like David Neeleman really is up to something down in Brazil. His go-to airline manufacturer, Embraer, confirmed to the AP that the ex-JetBlue CEO is looking to buy some mid-range jets.
Neeleman isn't talking about his plans, and JetBlue insists it has nothing to do with a possible new carrier in South America. (We of course are dreaming of a collaboration with Richard Branson.)
The two major airlines in Brazil use bigger planes than the E-190s Neeleman is shopping for. But he certainly has experience with the 100-seaters his looking to buy: JetBlue flies the same planes on shorter, in-demand routes in the US.
JetBlue founder David Neeleman is one step closer to starting up a new carrier. The entrepreneur had a big meeting yesterday with the director of Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency, but a spokeswoman said no formal proposal was filed during the talks.
Earlier reports have it that Neeleman already has $200 million lined up to start an airline featuring mid-range Embraer jets. (They're the same model JetBlue flies on shorter routes like JFK to Boston.) Interestingly, only a handful of Embraers, which are made outside São Paulo, have ever flown commercially in Brazil.
While we speculated last week that Richard Branson might have some money behind this plan, there's still no proof of that. Still, as a Brazilian citizen, Neeleman won't likely face regulatory hurdles the way other airline executives might. And that has to have the two major carriers in the country, TAM and Gol, at least a little worried.
So last week we got this surprise phone call from Richard Branson. And since we hung up, we've been ruminating on his admission that he's scouting South America for his next airline project. Where would it be? When would it happen? Would there be soccer cheerleaders at the launch party?
As we pondered the very concept of soccer cheerleaders, we stumbled upon some other interesting news. JetBlue founder David Neeleman is planning to buy 36 E-190s from Embraer and he has close to $200 million lined up to finance a project. He may have already secured authorization to operate an airline in Brazil, a certificate known as a "cheta."
See where we're going with this? Branson has run into regulatory problems before because of foreign ownership rules. (It happened in the States, and it's a hurdle in India.) But Neeleman holds Brazilian citizenship. If these two are getting together on a secret airline, we'll be flying to South America to try it out.
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