Growing for 16 months in a row, the demand for domestic flights is leading the Brazilian airlines to review the expansion plans of their fleets upwards. Azul and TAM have increased their forecasts and this year bought aircraft that were initially not in their plans. Gol does not rule out the possibility of doing the same as of 2014, but it does not reveal the numbers. The regional airline Trip should also increase its order planned for the next three years.According to the current plan, the increase of the fleet of Gol until the end of 2014, compared to the total number of aircrafts in 2010, is of 11 airplanes. At list price, the investment planned amounts to US$ 880 million, considering each 737-800 Boeing, plane the company has given priority in its fleet, costs nearly US$ 80 million. Leonardo Pereira, Financial Vice President and Vice President of Investor Relations of Gol, admits the company may increase its growth forecast for the domestic market in 2010, currently foreseen at 21%. Between January and September, the domestic demand accumulates growth of 27%. Should Gol review its projection, it should only be known at the disclosure of the balance sheet of the third quarter. "We are in a process of evaluation and analysis for the new planning of the fleet. Since the sector is really warmed up, we should review it for the next three years. We still have no numbers defined, only the signs the numbers shall be reviewed upwards", says the President of Trip, José Mário Capriolli. Trip has 38 aircrafts and will end this year with 40. For 2011, it wants to have at least 50 aircrafts between turboprop of French-Italian ATR and Embraer jets. In July, during the international air show of Farnborough, England, Trip had already announced the purchase of an Embraer plane that was not in its initial plan. At that occasion, the company announced the acquisition of two 190 models for 106 passengers. Avianca Brasil, former Oceanair, should make a change in its initial fleet plan. That because it should announce, on Monday, the first international route under the new name. According to the website of the National Agency of Civil Aviation (Anac), Avianca was authorized to operate a daily flight between São Paulo and Bogotá (Colombia) as of November 4. The company should operate A330 Airbus aircrafts. When it was still called Oceanair, the company operated flights to Mexico City in mid-2007 with a 767-200 Boeing. That was when the company announced its intention to fly to the African cities Lagos (Nigeria) and Luanda (Angola), but those routes ended up not being operated. In April, TAM was the first to raise its purchases and increased its investment in the fleet in US$ 200 million. With such resources, it increased from 5 to 11 the growth of its fleet in 2010. Azul closed the purchase of 20 ATR 72-600 turboprops, for 70 passengers, which were not included in its initial fleet planning. The order includes another 20 purchase options of the same model that, if exercised, increase the investment to US$ 850 million at list prices. The company has also bought five 195 Embraer jets for 118 passengers in an order of US$ 211 million at market values. The fleet plan of Azul for 2010 originally included 21 aircrafts, but it was increased to 26 units.
