Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras (AD, São Paulo Viracopos) CEO David Neeleman has confirmed Star Alliance has approached his airline over its possible accession to the alliance. Neeleman made the remarks to Brazil's Panrotas newswire during Avianca Brasil's joining ceremony last week.
Star Alliance's CEO Mark Schwab last month confirmed talks were ongoing but noted that Neeleman's recent acquisition of a stake in TAP Portugal (Lisbon), coupled with the introduction of Azul's maiden longhaul flights, had left very little time for the Brazilian LCC to focus on alliance membership exclusively.
“We continue to speak actively, but they have been extremely busy, with their international expansion, adding widebodies to their fleet, the bid to buy part of TAP Portugal and the [Brazilian] government’s proposal to start subsidizing regional services. How much can a leadership team handle?” he told Aviation Daily.
Other than its proposed partnership with TAP, an existing Star Alliance member, Azul has already announced plans to sell a 5% stake to another alliance member United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare), for USD100 million. With the purchase, the two will also develop codeshare and frequent-flyer synergies.
