Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S/A (''Azul Brazilian Airlines''; or simply Azul) is a Brazilian airline headquartered in

Barueri Barueri ( or ) is a Brazilian municipality in the State of São Paulo located in the northwestern part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 276,982 (2020 est.) in an area of . Its boundaries are Santana de Parnaíba to ...

, a suburb of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. The company's business model is to stimulate demand by providing frequent and affordable air service to underserved markets throughout Brazil. The company was named Azul ("Blue" in Portuguese) after a naming contest in 2008, where "Samba" was the other popular name. Azul is a

publicly traded company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

on the Brazilian stock exchange, with the ticker AZUL4. It was established on 5 May 2008 by Brazilian-born

David Neeleman David Gary Neeleman (born October 16, 1959) is a Brazilian-American businessman and entrepreneur. He has founded five commercial airlines: Morris Air, WestJet, JetBlue Airways, Azul Brazilian Airlines, and Breeze Airways. Along with Humberto ...

(founder of American low-cost airline

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub ...

), with a fleet of 76

Embraer E195 The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast, narrow-body, short- to medium-range, twin-engined jet airliners designed and produced by Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. The E-Jet was designed to complement Embraer’s earlie ...

jets. The airline began service on 15 December 2008. According to the Brazilian Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), between January and December 2019, Azul had 23.5% of the domestic and 5.0% of the international

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...

s in terms of revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), making it the third largest domestic and second largest international airline in Brazil.

History

Foundation and early years

Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S.A. was the fourth airline launched by JetBlue founder David Neeleman (after Morris Air, WestJet and JetBlue). Azul inaugurated services in the Brazilian

domestic market A domestic market, also referred to as an internal market or domestic trading, is the supply and demand of goods, services, and securities within a single country. In domestic trading, a firm faces only one set of competitive, economic, and marke ...

on 15 December 2008 between Campinas and 3 cities:

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

, and

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

. It launched operations with three

and two

Embraer E190 The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast, narrow-body, short- to medium-range, twin-engined jet airliners designed and produced by Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. The E-Jet was designed to complement Embraer’s earlier ...

aircraft. Another three aircraft were added in January 2009 to introduce nonstop service from

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

to both Vitória and

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Southern Brazil. The city's population was 1,773,718 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the larg ...

. On 28 May 2012, Azul announced the acquisition of TRIP Linhas Aéreas, the largest regional carrier in Brazil. Azul and Trip started comprehensive code-sharing operations on 2 December 2012, with all flights carrying only the IATA code of Azul. On 6 March 2013, Brazilian authorities gave the final approval for the merger with a few restrictions related to code-sharing with TAM Airlines and slot use at Rio de Janeiro–Santos Dumont Airport. On 6 May 2014, the merger process was completed with the final approval from Brazilian authorities. That day the brand TRIP ceased to exist and all TRIP assets were transferred to Azul. While the airline is not currently a full member in an

airline alliance An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare agreement, codeshare ...

, it signed a codeshare agreement with

Star Alliance Star Alliance is an airline alliance headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. Founded on 14 May 1997, it was the world's first global airline alliance. Star Alliance has 25 member airlines that operate a combined fleet of over 5,000 aircraft, servi ...

airline

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

in January 2014, which made it possible for

MileagePlus MileagePlus is the frequent-flyer program of United Airlines that offers rewards to passengers traveling on certain types of tickets. Following the 2010 merger agreement between United and Continental Airlines, United Mileage Plus was chosen to ...

members to earn points when flying with Azul beginning 1 April 2014. Since 2015, Azul is also an equal partner in a Brazilian–Portuguese joint venture that was the majority owner of

TAP Air Portugal TAP Air Portugal is the flag carrier of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its airline hub, hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and operates on average 2, ...

, another

member, before its buy-out by the Portuguese state. In December 2014, Azul started its first scheduled international flights, to

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

on 2 December and

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

on 15 December, both in the United States.

Development since 2015

In early 2015, it was announced that Azul had signed a purchase agreement for 35

Airbus A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' being Greek for "new", as well as an acronym for "new engine option") is based on the Airbus A3 ...

aircraft. It was also to lease a further 28 of the aircraft type. In mid 2015, Azul finalised a deal for 30 Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, including 20 options, first announced at the 2014

Farnborough International Air Show The Farnborough International Airshow is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors in Farnborough, Hampshire. Since its first show in ...

. The first delivery was scheduled for 2020. On 24 November 2015, it was announced that the Chinese

HNA Group HNA Group Co., Ltd., was a Chinese conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it was involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and ...

, owner of

Hainan Airlines Hainan Airlines is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. It is the largest civilian-run enterprise, civilian-run and majority State ownership, state-owned air transport company, making it the fourth-largest airline in terms of flee ...

, would invest US$450 million in Azul, becoming its largest single shareholder. This follows the US$100 million investment of

closed in June 2015. Azul signed a nonbinding deal to buy Avianca Brasil's assets on 11 March 2019, calling for the rehiring of all Avianca Brazil's staff and the merger between the two carriers, with Azul as the surviving brand. On 14 January 2020, Azul Brazilian Airlines signed an agreement to purchase

TwoFlex Azul Conecta (stylized as Azul onecta''), formerly known as ''TwoFlex Aviação Inteligente'', is a Brazilian domestic and subregional airline headquartered in Jundiaí, São Paulo, established in 2013. It is a subsidiary of Azul Brazilian Air ...

. On 27 March 2020, the Brazilian regulatory bodies approved the purchase and sale of flights started on 14 April 2020. TwoFlex operates as a feeder airline to Azul. On May 28, 2025, Azul Brazilian Airlines filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

after being affected with higher expenses within the last year. The company has plans to shed up to $2 billion in debt, receive $1.6 billion in financing throughout the procedure, and an additional $950 million in financing upon exiting bankruptcy, with bondholders and strategic partners such as

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

and

supporting the restructuring. Azul stated that they plan to exit bankruptcy in the beginning of 2026.

Corporate affairs

The key trends for Azul are (as of the financial year ending 31 December):

Destinations

In June 2025, Azul and Azul Conecta served 151 destinations in Brazil, Argentina, Curaçao (Netherlands), France, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain, the United States, and Uruguay plus some other additional locations by means of dedicated executive bus services to the nearest airports.

Codeshare agreements

Azul has interline agreements and

codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

s with the following airlines: *

Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopian Airlines (), formerly ''Ethiopian Air Lines'' (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by the country's government. EAL was founded on 21 December 1945 and commenced operations on 8 April 1946, expanding to intern ...

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...

ITA Airways Italia Trasporto Aereo S.p.A. (), doing business as ITA Airways, is the flag carrier of Italy. It is owned by the government of Italy, via the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Lufthansa Group. The airline was founded in 2020 as a suc ...

JetBlue Airways JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub a ...

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

Interline agreements

Aerolíneas Argentinas Aerolíneas Argentinas, formally ''Aerolíneas Argentinas S.A.'', is the state-owned flag carrier of Argentina and the country's largest airline. The airline was created in 1949, from the merger of Aeroposta Argentina (AA), Aviación del Lito ...

Air Europa Air Europa Líneas Aéreas, S.A.U., branded as Air Europa, is the third-largest Spain, Spanish airline after Iberia (airline), Iberia and Vueling. The airline is headquartered in Llucmajor, Mallorca, Spain; it has its main hub at Adolfo Suárez M ...

Air Transat Air Transat () is a List of airlines of Canada, Canadian airline headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it operates scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transat is owned and operated by Transa ...

Copa Airlines Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A., branded as Copa Airlines, is the flag carrier of Panama. It is headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with its main hub at Tocumen International Airport. Copa is a subsidiary of Copa Holdings and a member o ...

Etihad Airways Etihad Airways is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, near Zayed International Airport. The airline commenced operations in November 2003, and ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...

Fleet

, the Azul Brazilian Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Notes

References

External links

Azul History sketch at Aviação Brasil
{{IATA members, latinam Airlines of Brazil Airlines established in 2008 Companies listed on B3 (stock exchange) Brazilian brands Low-cost carriers Private equity portfolio companies HNA Group 2008 establishments in Brazil Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025