When it comes to Central and South America, there are two “powerhouse” airlines — Avianca and LATAM. Both airlines have hubs in several countries. One of Avianca’s quickly growing operations is Avianca Brasil, which is based in Brasil, as the name suggests.
Up until now the airline has primarily operated domestic flights, and they have a fleet of nearly 50 aircraft. However, over time they’re planning on adding longhaul routes, as they have a total of 16 A330s and A350s on order.
Avianca Brasil will be inaugurating their longhaul flights in a couple of months. As of June 23, 2017, Avianca Brasil will launch daily flights between Miami and Sao Paulo. The flights will operate with the following schedule, per @airlineroute:
O68510 Sao Paulo to Miami departing 11:55PM arriving 7:25AM (+1 day)
O68511 Miami to Sao Paulo departing 7:30PM arriving 5:00AM (+1 day)
The flight will be operated using newly delivered Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which feature 237 seats, including 32 business class seats and 205 economy seats.
Business class will consist of reverse herringbone seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration. This is awesome news, as it looks like the hard product will be similar to what Avianca has on their 787s (which I reviewed last year from Los Angeles to Bogota and Bogota to Madrid).
As of now it looks like Avianca has loaded two business class award seats on this flight every single date through the end of the schedule, including over peak dates in December and January.
However, it doesn’t look like most partner websites have been updated yet to reflect this space. Most partner websites (like United MileagePlus) do show Avianca Brasil availability in general.
I suspect this is simply because the flight was just loaded into the GDS. It’s not yet even bookable through many online travel agencies. However, you should already be able to redeem miles for this by phone, or otherwise if you wait a short while, I suspect it will also be bookable online.
It’s great to see a new competitor in the Miami to Sao Paulo market. Last year American and LATAM announced their intentions to form a joint venture between the US/Canada and six countries in South America, which is bad for consumers, since it would allow them to fix prices, etc. So it’s great to have a new competitor in the market, given that American and LATAM have owned that market for so long.
Maybe once this route starts I can do a head-to-head comparison of LATAM and Avianca Brasil on this route.
Does anyone plan on taking this new Avianca route between Miami and Sao Paulo?
And last but not least, landing in SDU (from CGH, probably) is pretty special too, flying around Christ the Redeemer. BSB airport also has, imo, the best lounge exclusive for domestic flights, but that's probably not worth going to, unless you are interested in modernism.
You should really fly to Brazil. In GRU there is a new T3 with 5 lounges to review, but GIG is also interesting with a new international pier, handling all international flights. There is also a new Grand Hyatt in Rio for the points obsessed. And, finally, Rio would be more than welcoming to you and Ford.
I've heard that Avian ca Basil is no where near as good as Avianca, which is outstanding. It was an airline Avianca took over in part ownership.
Lucky, I hope you get to go back to Sao Paulo for a visit, stay a little longer in the Jardins area (as opposed to when you stayed at the Hyatt and WALKED to the Jardineira steakhouse), and enjoy a little more what the city has to offer. And of course, enjoy the brand new International Terminal 3 in GRU that has Star Alliance, LATAM, MasterCard Black, Admirals Club, and Executive lounges to review. Just...
Lucky, I hope you get to go back to Sao Paulo for a visit, stay a little longer in the Jardins area (as opposed to when you stayed at the Hyatt and WALKED to the Jardineira steakhouse), and enjoy a little more what the city has to offer. And of course, enjoy the brand new International Terminal 3 in GRU that has Star Alliance, LATAM, MasterCard Black, Admirals Club, and Executive lounges to review. Just make sure to factor in the traffic time to and from the airport and feel free to drink on board and take selfies like you did in your flight with LATAM haha.
So far no seat is avaiable on LifeMiles. And to purchase the ticket cost is so expensive. I think they will make some adjustments later.
I'd be interested to hear a comparison of the soft products between Avianca and LATAM as I believe the hard product on Avianca would have to win out on this one. Unfortunately, did not get to ride in the front of the bus on my last LATAM trip, but even on the 787, it looked to be the rather unimpressive and somewhat outdated 2x2x2 layout without much privacy. I thought the service, at least in...
I'd be interested to hear a comparison of the soft products between Avianca and LATAM as I believe the hard product on Avianca would have to win out on this one. Unfortunately, did not get to ride in the front of the bus on my last LATAM trip, but even on the 787, it looked to be the rather unimpressive and somewhat outdated 2x2x2 layout without much privacy. I thought the service, at least in economy for LATAM was just ok and the food forgettable. The Chilean wine was the only winner. As long as Avianca can provide decent food and service, cannot imagine anything in that market beating their reverse herringbone seats. SA market just has not yet demanded the best premium offerings in the industry, and when the foreign competition is our legacy carriers like AA's old planes, any better options coming from the local carriers are much welcomed!
@Ricardo
I was talking about LATAM planes.
@George, Azul flies A330s to FLL and MCO, and not 767s.
Azul's 330s have nice lie-flat staggered 1-2-1 seats. Soft product is just ok, IMHO.
AA and LATAM have not been approved for a JBA.
Was AA+LATAM actually approved or just still in proposed/regulator stage ?
This is great news even though we are living in Rio at the moment. Flying out of GRU to get to the States is not too much of a hassle.
That A330 is a definite upgrade compared to the planes that (LA)TAM flys to Miami.
I was just looking at flights for July with American, may consider this now!
@Ben Holz that's only at the back of the cabin as the body tapers in. It's 2-4-2 ahead except for those last few rows. Look 5 rows from where the image starts.
You should actually try Azul from MCO or FLL instead of Latam. Specially if you fly with them on the 767. The A350 would be a better option in this case.
And you ought to try GRU new T3 terminal and its lounges (Star, AA, JJ)
Wait, is that a 2-3-2 configuration in economy?!?!
avianca colombia also has this seats on selected a330 aircraft. I flew 4 segments with them last year and 2 had the 1-2-1 configuration