Azul announced on Sunday the certification of the world’s first Embraer E195 adapted cargo aircraft. The carrier received certification on Saturday and will adapt an additional three aircraft by the end of 2020.
On Sunday (September 27, 2020), Azul S.A. announced that they have received certification to operate the world’s first Embraer E195 adapted dedicated cargo aircraft. The first aircraft began operations on Saturday, September 26, 2020 and the carrier plans on adapting three more aircraft by the end of the year. The aircraft will provide a focused solution for Azul’s e-commerce customers and two of the converted aircraft have already been committed to an e-commerce provider for at least six months. In Sunday’s announcement, Azul’s CEO, John Rodgerson said,
“We are excited to continue diversifying our business model with the adaptation of these four Embraer aircraft. The size, range, and performance of the E195, gives it the perfect combination of payload capacity, volume capacity and low trip-cost economics allowing fast and efficient logistics access all around Brazil. We are seeing record demand for the services provided by Azul Cargo Express and are pleased to innovate to further meet the needs of our customers. With the combination of our dedicated aircraft, belly capacity on the largest domestic network in Brazil, and our extensive ground partnerships, we are ready to meet the growing need of all our logistics and especially all our e-commerce customers. Our logistics solutions have the potential to transform e-commerce in Brazil.”
The adapted E195s will join Azul’s dedicated fleet of two Boeing 737-400 freighters for a total of six Azul Cargo Express aircraft. The carrier’s dedicated cargo fleet is also complemented by five ATR 72-600 Quick-Change aircraft along with Azul’s passenger network belly-hold capacity.
Azul is largest airline in Brazil, based on the number of departures and cities served. Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the carrier offered 916 daily departures to 116 destinations and operated a fleet of 142 aircraft. The airline employs more than 13,000 and has a network of 249 nonstop routes (as of December 31, 2019).
Source: Azul