What Happened To Avianca Brasil’s Fleet?

Earlier this year, Brazil’s fourth-largest airline ceased operations after filing for bankruptcy in December last year. Avianca Brasil, owned by the Synergy Group, stopped flying on 24th May 2019, but what has become of its fleet?

Avianca Brasil, also known as Oceanair Linhas Aéreas S/A, once had a total of 79 aircraft. The fleet was made up of mostly Airbus planes, however, it also had 14 of the 283 Fokker 100 aircraft produced by the Dutch company.

The Fokker 100

The May 2010 was a big month for Avianca Brasil, seeing the airline receive all 14 of its Fokker 100 aircraft. The Fokker 100 was a medium-sized aircraft with a twin turbofan engine and was the largest aircraft built by the Dutch company until it became bankrupt in 1996.

Of the 14 aircraft it had, all of them stopped flying before Avianca Brasil filed for bankruptcy. Nine of them are stored and the remaining five have been passed onto other airlines.

According to Air Fleets, the two aircraft to serve the shortest amount of time with the airline were stored in September 2013. These were registered PR-OAS and PR-OAT and both were acquired from American Airlines. The aircraft actually served when Avianca Brasil was called Oceanair before it was merged; Oceanair receiving PR-OAS in 2008 and PR-OAT in 2007. Whilst PR-OAT remains stored, PR-OAS was scrapped at the start of 2014.

The registered aircraft PR-OAF was also scrapped after it was stored in November 2015, but the remaining six of the nine aircraft that stayed with Avianca Brasil are currently listed as stored.

New lease of life for Avianca Brasil’s Fokkers

In 2015, three of the Fokker 100s were retired and transferred; one to Bek Air, which is now stored and another two to Network Aviation Australia. Both of these aircraft are still active.

A further two, PR-OAI and PR-OAU, served with Avianca Brasil for seven years before they were retired to Tus Airways in Cyprus. These aircraft are also still active.

The Airbus fleet

Avianca Brasil owned 15 A318s, four A319s, 40 A320s and six A330s. According to Air Fleets, six of the aircraft were still in operation when the airline ceased services in May 2019.

Some of the newest aircraft in its fleet were 12 A320neos, delivered between October 2016 and September 2018. The A320neo was an upgrade from the A320-200 series that it had been using before, since it provided better fuel efficiency, more passenger seating and was able to fly a longer range.

When Avianca Brasil ceased operations, all the A320neos were transferred to Azul Linhas Aereas. The 17 A320s were sold on to a variety of airlines including LATAM Brasil and Austrian Airlines throughout 2019 but one had already been transferred to Avianca Argentina in October 2018.

Avianca Brasil also had 11 A320s stored, but during its collapse, it was forced to return nine of these to their lessors in April of this year. The other two have been marked as stored although the were also leased from Aviation Capital Group who are recorded to have leased five of the other A320s to Avianca Brasil.

Transfers, storage and ceased operations

The youngest aircraft in the fleet were the airline’s A330s. There were six in total; three stored in 2019 after less than two years since delivery and another three that were transferred to other airlines. One went to Azul Linhas Aereas in July 2019 and the other two were transferred within the Avianca group to Avianca and Avianca Cargo in March 2019 (although Avianca Brasil is not a subsidiary of Avianca, they both share the same parent group).

Avianca Brasil also had 15 A318s which it acquired between 2011 and 2013. It received five in 2011 and two of those were still flying until bankruptcy. PR-ONC had been actively flying since 2012 until operations ceased and PR-ONI since 2013 until the collapse. All the other aircraft in the A318 fleet were stored but PR-AVH, the first delivered, was scrapped in 2014.

Which leaves the A319 fleet; the least numerous. Of the four, three were acquired in 2010 and the other in 2012. Only two, PR-AVD and PR-AVB, were active until the collapse, with PR-ONJ being returned to Aviation Capital Group in April 2019 and PR-AVC being stored in February 2019.

Will you miss the services of Aviana Brasil? Did you fly with them in the past? Let us know in the comments.