The air bridge between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo moves millions of passengers every year and is among the busiest routes in the world. It is currently operated by the three major Brazilian airlines (Azul, Gol and Latam) and has a demanding customer profile.
With so many business travelers, the Flapper company has been taking the stretch a different approach. The company’s initiative, which specializes in flight-sharing, is to increase access to business aviation.
Because of this, the choice of the Rio-São Paulo air bridge for his new project was a natural path, and the potential increases at a time when flying a commercial airliner can cost up to more than R$ 1,000 on the route of just 45 minutes, according to research done by Aeroin for flights in May and June, depending on the date.
Thus, travelers willing to pay a little more, around R$ 1,500, can take the opportunity to board a private plane offered by Flapper.
Flights are carried out every Monday and Friday, in a Pilatus PC-12 turbo-prop aircraft with capacity for up to eight passengers, and connects Congonhas to Jacarepaguá. The company argues that turboprop flights on short routes are faster and more economical than those carried out by jets.
Paul Malicki, an executive at Flapper, says: “The present launch is a mere result of what we learned during the pre-pandemic period. A flight operated by a turboprop takes only 50 minutes, as we avoid more congested air corridors”.
In a conversation with Aeroin, Malicki stated that another differential is that the passenger does not need to arrive at the airport an hour earlier, and does not face queues. “A big advantage is that the customer enters through the executive hangar and also leaves through the VIP terminal”, he says.
“This means that passengers can arrive literally 15 minutes before boarding. When we do research with our customers, it is clear that the main advantage that our executive air shuttle brings to them is time savings”, concluded the executive.
The flights are already being marketed on Flapper’s website, and will gain more aircraft in “special” weeks such as holidays and festivals, such as Rock In Rio, which will take place in the third quarter. Other cities are being analyzed to receive fixed routes in the future.
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