Jetrader - March/April 2011 - 10

start at 50 seats and stretch out to 86 seats, but it was range-limited. So they came along with something that is bigger, more comfortable and can ﬂy further. It ﬁlls an important niche between the 70-seat/80-seat market up to the 140-seat. We have ours conf igured at 118 seats. So there’s just a big market opportunity for that airplane. The airlines in the United States would take advantage of it more if they could, based on their scope clauses.

JT: Do you eventually see moving to larger jets, and is this something you would encourage Embraer to develop? Is the C-series a consideration? DN: I think everything is a consideration. We don’t foreclose anything. For right now, we are happy with our two-plane ﬂeet operation and what we are doing. But you never say never in anything. We are always talking to Embraer. There are some big decisions down the road with the new generation airplanes that Airbus announced. Fuel is a big deal in Brazil. It

is about 50 percent more expensive than it is in the United States. And that’s what makes the airplane work. With these big airplanes coming out, if there is 15 percent fuel savings on this NEO plane that Airbus is coming out with, those are things that we all have to look at. JT: How does the turbo-prop ﬁt into your operating strategy? DN: Turbo-props burn a lot less fuel than jets do. Because of that, they are great for short markets in Brazil. Sure, a lot of people would rather be on a jet, but if your option is a bus or a car or not going at all, or extremely high fares, then it makes all the sense in the world. It’s a very interesting strategy. A lot of the cities we are serving had no air service whatsoever or maybe they just had one ﬂight a day. So we’ll come in with three or four ﬂights a day and give them options throughout the day. Most people, in these cities that have a million people, have to drive four hours to the closest airport. And these are cities that are growing and doing well. They deserve to have air service. JT: You have created airlines with strong customer-focused cultures in the United States. Do you have a similar emphasis in Brazil? Are there any cultural differences that make it more or less difﬁcult? DN: Actually there are cultural differences that make it easier. The people we hire are so nice. It’s a challenge maybe to hire nice people in the United States, but here it is so easy. They are so grateful to have a job, and they are so loyal to the company. Absolutely—we’re all about customer service. I have two important goals for the company. No. 1—I want everyone who works for Azul to say, “This is the best place I’ve ever worked.” The second thing I want is every customer getting off the plane and saying, “Wow, that was an amazing ﬂight—best I’ve ever had. I never want to ﬂy with anybody else.” You don’t have No. 2 without No. 1. That’s what we preach every day. We preach to take care of our people and our people will take care of our customers. If your customers are taken care of, you are going to grow faster than anybody else—if they really love your brand, like the old days at JetBlue.

10 The ofﬁcial 486218_Aeronautical.indd 1

publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading9:17:50 AM 7/9/10

http://www.aeronautical-engineers.com

Jetrader - March/April 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - March/April 2011