Contaminated crew leads Azul to double canceled or rescheduled flights

The percentage of canceled or rescheduled flights by Azul Linhas Aéreas doubled from Thursday (6) to this Friday (7), reaching 10% of the total, the equivalent of 90 daily flights. The reason is the low of the crew, contaminated by Covid-19.

In a statement, the airline says that, “for operational reasons”, some of its flights are being rescheduled in January. “The company recorded an increase in the number of medical dismissals among its crew members – cases that, in their entirety, presented a framework with mild symptoms – and has accompanied the growth in the number of cases of flu and Covid-19 in Brazil and in the world. “.

According to Azul, the impacted customers are being relocated on other flights and receive full assistance, “as provided for in Anac’s resolution 400”, says the note, referring to the National Civil Aviation Agency standard that deals with the rights of air passengers. in situations such as cancellations and re-accommodations.

Gol says, also in a note, that “there has been an increase in positive cases among employees in recent days, but no flight was canceled or significantly changed for this reason”. According to the airline, “employees who test positive are being removed from their duties to recover safely at home”, says Gol, noting that “100% of employees are vaccinated”.

Latam, in turn, states that “for now, it has not yet been necessary to change its flights in view of the increase in the number of cases of Covid and influenza in the Brazilian population”, but that “it remains attentive to this scenario, which is changing rapidly by virtue of the ômicron variant”.

Questioned by leaf, the SNA (National Union of Aeronauts) claims to have no statistics on how many professionals in the sector are away due to Covid-19. “But from the reports we have received, the problem is concentrated at Azul so far, because it was the airline that is flying more now than it was flying before the pandemic”, says Ondino Dutra, president of the SNA.

Anac’s data point to a significant increase in Azul’s demand compared to other airlines. According to the agency, between December 2020 and November 2021, the company’s share reached 33.6% in revenue per passenger kilometer (RPK), up 6.8 percentage points in compared to the same period of the previous year (26.8%), which led Azul to lead the sector.

Considering the same range, Latam’s share dropped from 34.8% to 33.2% and that of Gol, from 38% to 32.2%.

Latam and Gol are still not operating at 100% capacity, but Azul is, which leads the company to reschedule or cancel flights due to the absence of personnel. “It is necessary to take into account that training a pilot takes longer, which can take months, while training a flight attendant takes a few weeks”, says Dutra.

According to the SNA, Azul has been hiring flight attendants. When questioned, the company says it has “open positions”.

The airline sector, one of the hardest hit by Covid-19, was also one of the most fired. Latam alone has laid off around 30% of its workforce since the beginning of the pandemic, around 6,000 employees. But, due to the resumption, it hired about 2,000 in the second half of last year.