Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport

Etihad and Ethiopian plan services to Sao Paulo as Latin America-Asia market prepares to grow

Etihad Airways and Ethiopian Airlines intend to launch services to Sao Paulo, the economic heart of the rapidly growing Latin American market. While Sao Paulo is seeing increased capacity from a number of carriers, services from Etihad and Ethiopian are notable for the considerable transfer traffic they will have, including from Asia. Linking the high-growth economies of Asia with their Latin American counterparts has been alluring for many carriers, but distances and aircraft range limitations necessitate all services be one-stop.

Asia-Latin America's traditional, if small time, transfer hubs in North America and Europe have increasingly seen competition from the Middle East. That will be complemented in the next few years with hubs from Africa, first from East Africa and potentially later from West Africa.

Aeromexico continues to build partnerships outside SkyTeam

Aeromexico’s new codeshare agreement with Brazilian carrier TAM represents the second agreement Mexico’s largest carrier has signed with a non-SkyTeam carrier in the last two months. The partnerships reflect the need for both Star and SkyTeam carriers to access key markets in Latin and Central America that are not available through their respective alliance partners.

The Avianca-TACA relationship with Aeromexico, announced in Mar-2012, was surprising given that the Kriete family, which is a main shareholder in Avianca-TACA, is also a major holder in Aeromexico’s competitor Volaris. But Aeromexico has been pursuing a tie-up with Colombia’s largest carrier, Avianca, since it started Mexico City-Bogota flights in 2010. The chance was brushed aside once Avianca-TACA opted to join the Star Alliance, but now the agreement will include more connections than just Bogota as Avianca-TACA cited an ability to partner with Aeromexico on flights to Central and South America during the second half of this year.

Rapidly expanding Kenya Airways charts growth with plan to serve every inhabited continent by 2017

Kenya Airways plans to launch its first services to North America, South America and Australia by 2017, making it one of the few carriers to serve every inhabited continent. While these three continents will give Africa's currently fifth-largest airline by seats a global presence, its future is pegged on Asia, with the carrier over the next 10 years planning to launch seven new routes into China, six in the Indian Subcontinent and three across North and Southeast Asia as well as having a growing presence in Europe and the Middle East. It is poised to become Africa's largest carrier.

Growth will be fuelled by Africa's status as a burgeoning market, as well as reliance on partners: Kenya Airways will open routes to SkyTeam member hubs in Xiamen (Xiamen Airlines), Hanoi (Vietnam Airlines), Seoul (Korean Air), Moscow (Aeroflot) and Prague (Czech Airlines). The intercontinental focus follows Kenya's strong emphasis on regional Africa, with the carrier aiming to serve every African nation by the end of 2013. 

TAM plans US expansion in 2012 with B777-300ERs while Brazil domestic growth slows

Brazil’s TAM is planning further capacity expansion on US routes in 2012 as growth in the Brazilian domestic market shows signs of cooling down. The US expansion will be driven by the doubling of TAM’s B777-300ER fleet next year from four to eight aircraft. The B777-300ER, which is by far the largest aircraft type in TAM’s fleet, is now only used on European routes but will start to be deployed in the US during 2012.

Time is running out on Brazil’s bid to privatise its airports successfully

Brazil hosts the World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016 but is struggling to update its airports and add capacity in time. In 2010, the government announced that rather than rely on state airports agency Infraero to undertake the necessary work, it would seek concessions contracts from private-sector companies to expand and modernise some of the country's airports.

Traditionally, Infraero, which used to be a branch of the military, has had responsibility for almost all Brazil’s airports but ANAC, the recently-formed Civil Aviation Authority, took charge of the proposals, calling at first (in Jun-2010 and after an exasperating 1H2010 for potential investors) for proposals to develop a new USD575 million airport at Sao Goncalo do Amarante in Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte.