Brasília – Demand for domestic flights grew 11.2% in February compared to the same month last year, amounting to 6.040 million passengers, according to survey released by The Brazilian Airlines Association (Abear, in the Portuguese acronym), with data supplied by the four biggest Brazilian companies of the segment: TAM, Gol, Azul e Avianca.
In January, a record was set in the number of domestic-flight passengers: 7.053 million. The president of Abear, Eduardo Sanovicz, observed that the sector dynamism is reflex of the economic development. “It grows twice as much as the GDP”, he points out.
In Sanovicz’s evaluation, the result in February – a traditionally weaker month as it is smaller – may be associated to the corporate events that have been put forward due to the World Cup games, in June and July, and elections, in October.
International flights decreased by 6.2% in the number of passengers carried, at 5.4 million people. According to Sanovicz, the data may signal that the consumers are choosing shorter and more economic routes due to the exchange rate. Instead of travelling to the United States, for example, tourists now prefer to travel domestically.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
