New Brazilian LCC to start operations in June

Brazil’s CAA has granted approved for a new airline, Itapemirim Transportes Aéreos (ITA), after 12 months of approvals including several certification flights in April. The airline’s parent, Itapemirim, is an intercity bus company operated six Boeing 727 freighters and two passenger Cessna Caravans in the mid-1990s.

ITA has announced plans for rapid growth, with its current fleet of two Airbus A320s to increase to ten when flights begin in late June. The LCC intends to serve 35 destinations with the first year of operations with its new fleet of A320s and A319s. The initial flights will connect major cities, including Brasilia, São Paulo, Rio, Curitiba, and Salvador. Itapemirim’s bus fleets will allow integration of air service with the 2,700 cities served by bus. The company painted its first A320, delivered in March, in the bus fleet’s bright yellow livery at the Digex MRO in São José dos Campos.