TransBrasil Airlines
8th in a Series: A Fictional Brazilian Low Cost Carrier
TransBrasil Airlines (Portuguese: TransBrasil Linhas Aéreas) is a Brazilian low cost airline headquartered in the Tatuapé district of São Paulo, Brazil. The airline operates regularly scheduled flights from two bases: 1) São Paulo Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) in Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil; and 2) Salvador Bahia Airport (SSA) in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. Galeão International Airport (GIG) in Rio de Janeiro also serves as a focus city airport offering flights to a selection of major cities within southeastern and central Brasil.
Founded in 2008 by three Brazilian businessmen, TransBrasil Airlines offers budget-priced economy airfares to 17 cities across Brazil, using Embraer E195 and Embraer E195-E2 aircraft configured in a distinctive two-class, all-economy seating arrangement.
History
Early Years
TransBrasil Airlines was first established in 2008 by three friends in their mid-30s, known collectively as os Três Amigos (“Three Friends”) who originally met while students attending Universidade de São Paulo in the early 1990s:
Thiago Oliveira, a Rio de Janeiro-born scion of one of Brazil’s wealthiest and most influential families and an extroverted playboy with a creative bent for marketing, who became the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO);
Adriano Silva, a native Paulista and former financial director with the state-owned Brazilian petroleum company Petrobras with a very frugal and cautious personality, who became the company Chief Financial Officer (CFO); and
Dante Cavalcante, a Salvador-born former mid-level operations manager for state-owned Brazilian airline Varig known to be a very calm and emotionally intelligent leader, who became the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Mr Oliveira’s father, Tito Oliveira, pitched in with some last minute funding and proved to be instrumental in helping the company overcome several government bureaucratic roadblocks. As a result he was made the company’s Chairman, which was mostly a figurehead role.
Taking advantage of some enticing financial incentives cultivated by the elder Mr Oliveira, the company selected the Embraer E195 E-Jet as its sole aircraft type of choice. Mr Silva appreciated the E195’s lower list price and similar profit margins as compared to the smaller aircraft made by Boeing and Airbus, while Messrs Oliveira and Cavalcante liked the aircraft’s design and flexible interior options.
Mr Oliveira originally wanted to create a luxury brand carrier, while Messrs Silva and Cavalcante favored pursuing a low cost carrier (LCC) model instead. The latter two men’s vision generally prevailed, and the planes were each configured with two classes of economy-style seating: 1) Classe de Valor (Value Class), with 96 unallocated basic economy seats located at the rear of the aircraft and set at a 31-inch pitch; and 2) Classe Prêmio (Premium Class), with 22 reserved premium economy seats located at the front of the aircraft and set at a more comfortable 34-inch pitch.
The chief distinction between the two classes was having preassigned vs unassigned seats. Classe Prêmio passengers could leisurely board at any time and go directly to their reserved seat. Classe de Valor passengers, on the other hand, would receive a numbered boarding card issued as they arrived at the gate, and then would be allowed to board in strict numerical order and select any open seat that was available upon boarding.
It was also decided early on to have the carrier serve as a strictly domestic carrier, to avoid the additional costs commonly associated with serving international routes.
In its promotional advertising, the airline emphasized its lower airfares as well as the complete lack of middle seats on their planes, using the tagline Nunca há assentos do meio - “No middle seats ever!” Mr Oliveira paid extra money from his own pocket to finance and implement the close-fitting attire to be worn by the new company’s cabin crew, emphasizing his belief in the importance of cabin crew members to be as good looking and as helpful as possible.
On 6 August 2010 TransBrasil Airlines began scheduled operations between São Paulo-GRU and:
Rio de Janeiro-GIG
Salvador-SSA
Fortaleza-FOR
Porto Alegre-POA
Curitiba-CWB
The São Paulo market responded enthusiastically and planes were quickly filled to capacity. More E195s were ordered and leased, and more routes were added to the network over time as well.
Adding the Embraer E195-E2
Messrs Oliveira, Silva and Cavalcante attended the Paris Air Show in 2013, where they discussed the possibility of ordering one of two new generational aircraft: 1) the Bombardier CS300, and 2) the new model Embraer E195-E2. Mr Cavalcante initially favored the CS300 for its superior range and higher seating capacity, while Mr Silva highlighted the E195-E2’s lower fuel costs and lower purchase price. Although the CS300 (later to be rebranded as the Airbus A220) could seat more passengers, Mr Oliveira also preferred staying with the E195 type so as to preserve the company’s four-abreast seating plan.
In the end, after Embraer and the Brazilian government appealed to the men’s patriotic sensibilities, and Embraer presented them with a generous pricing discount, TransBrasil ultimately decided to stick with the Embraer brand and ordered 40 of the new E195-E2s.
New Operating Bases At Salvador-SSA and Fortaleza-FOR
In 2014, TransBrasil greatly expanded its reach by opening 2 new operating bases at 1) Salvador-SSA and 2) Fortaleza-FOR, with plans to market these cities as leisure destinations. To appeal to leisure travelers, the company also opened nonstop jet service to Fernando de Noronha-FEN from São Paulo-GRU, Rio de Janeiro-GIG, Salvador-SSA, and Fortaleza-FOR.
In late 2014 Tito Oliveira, Chairman of TransBrasil Airlines, passed away quietly in his sleep. His son, CEO Thiago Oliveira, assumed the title of Chairman thereafter.
2016 Olympics and New Promotional Campaign
With Rio de Janeiro set to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, TransBrasil opened more routes into Rio de Janeiro-GIG. As part of that promotion, the company hired supermodel Rosângela (Rosa) dos Santos to become the airline’s official brand spokesperson.
Mr Oliveira arranged to create a series of clever commercials featuring Ms do Santos that highlighted the company’s friendly service, the quality of its economy class seating, and the sexiness of its cabin crew. The ads always ended with the catchphrases, “Venha apreciar a vista!” (“Come enjoy the view!”) or “A vista daqui de cima é ótima!” (“The view is really great from up here!”), and showed both men and women slightly lowering their sunglasses to watch as a very curvaceous female cabin crew member wearing short shorts walked past their seat. Both ad taglines became Portuguese language memes that have long since taken on lives of their own over social media.
The advertising campaign proved to be very successful - TransBrasil’s profits nearly doubled that first year alone, and flights were suddenly getting booked to capacity on most routes. Everyone seemed to love Ms dos Santos’ role in the ads, and her own modeling and acting career took off when she secured a leading role on a famous US TV detective series because of it. Ms dos Santos still serves as the face of the airline in TV ads, which tend to get considerable airplay during futebol (soccer) matches, and she is regularly seen on billboards around most TransBrasil destination cities.
While the advertising campaign turned out to very successful for the airline itself and for Ms do Santos’ career, some cabin crew experienced rather less pleasant impacts from it.
As the TV ads became more prevalent, female flight attendants began to experience more and more unsolicited attention and occasional sexual harassment from passengers. On at least a few occasions, flights were even forced to make unscheduled diversions to random airports to expel unruly passengers who decided to pinch or grab a passing flight attendant’s backside.
This soon led the company to include a reminder in its departure safety briefings advising passengers not to interfere with the flight crew in this manner, saying “Lembre-se: Olhe, mas não toque!” (“Please remember: Look, but don’t touch!”).
Mr Oliveira’s Departure Amid Scandal
While visiting his hometown of Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Olympics, Thiago Oliveira had an amorous tryst in an upscale hotel room with an American woman he met on a nearby beach. Their steamy interlude was rudely interrupted by the woman’s very angry and jealous boyfriend, who shot Mr Oliveira twice in the buttocks as he tried to flee. Mr Oliveira barely made it to the elevator before collapsing inside. When he reached the ground floor an observant hotel concierge came to his aid, and he was rushed to a local hospital.
The bullets were readily removed, and Mr Oliveira fully recovered after convalescing for a few weeks. However, the resulting tabloid publicity about the incident gave Mr Oliveira plenty of unwanted attention wherein he earned the snarky nickname Balabala Bumbum (pronounced bah-lah bah-lah boom-boom) - where balabala meant bullet-bullet, and bumbum meant buttocks. Some witty individuals liked to as Mr Oliveira, “So how was the view?” whenever he appeared in public, much to his annoyance.
The so-called Balabala Bumbum incident, however, turned out to be the least of Mr Oliveira’s troubles.
In late 2017, as the #MeToo movement emerged around the world, several TransBrasil flight attendants and other female staff employees came forward to accuse Mr Oliveira of workplace sexual harassment. These claims were bad enough, but when one female employee accused him of going further and raping her, Messrs Silva and Cavalcante forced Mr Oliveira to resign as CEO and sell out his share in the company, and soon thereafter Mr Oliveira faced criminal charges. The tabloids once again had a field day with the accusations, creating massive headaches for TransBrasil Airlines and its public image as a company.
The charges against Mr Oliveira were ultimately dropped in 2022 when the woman recanted, after which he quietly relocated to Miami Beach, where he reportedly continues to reside.
Mr Cavalcante Becomes CEO
COO Dante Cavalcante took over as Chairman and CEO of TransBrasil Airlines, and he responded quickly to the unfolding PR crisis. He personally reached out and apologized to each of the aggrieved women, and voluntarily compensated them financially to alleviate their distress. He also offered a decent severance pay package to any employees who wished to leave the airline, though only a few took up this offer. A comprehensive anti-sexual harassment policy with accompanying training programs was put into place, and an anonymous hotline was set up for employees seeking assistance.
Lastly, Mr Cavalcante had the carrier’s flight attendant uniforms redesigned, with cabin crews invited to provide their own input.
The airline’s original uniform was skimpy and revealing, resembling the bare-midriff type outfits sometimes worn by American collegiate football cheerleaders but with very tight-fitting shorts instead of skirts. Mr Cavalcante hired the Parisian fashion design house Modavibe to create a new uniform, and the French designers set to work interviewing the workers.
Many of the women didn’t like the original outfits, not because of what they revealed but because they were not very functional to wear for work, lacking pockets and places to hang items. Even worse, most flight attendants said they would get cold while wearing the outfits at cruising altitude, making them uncomfortable to wear.
Modavibe ended up creating 3 new uniforms, all of them featuring the airline’s distinctive green and gold uniform color scheme:
A form-fitting pantsuit for women still unafraid to show off their curves;
A more modest knee-length skirt outfit for women not wishing to show off said curves; and
A comfortable gender-neutral mix-and-match uniform with optional blazer.
Company policies were also somewhat liberalized regarding the use of makeup, hair colorings, tattoos and nail polish. Perhaps the most popular style change turned out to be the adoption of comfortable matching sneakers that could be worn instead of pumps or dress shoes.
The new uniforms proved to be very popular with flight attendants and met with general approval from most of TransBrasil’s customers, although some men grumbled about no longer being able to see cabin crew wearing their “bumbum” shorts.
Best of all, flight attendants have since reported experiencing far fewer harassment problems since the newer uniforms debuted in 2018.
TransBrasil Stock IPO and E195-E2 Arrivals
In 2019, Mr Cavalcante and CFO Mr Silva set up a well received stock IPO (initial public offering) on Brazil’s B3 (Brasil Bolsa Balcão) stock exchange in São Paulo. The airline also began to accept delivery of its previously ordered Embraer E195-E2 aircraft.
Covid 19
TransBrasil barely survived the Covid 19 pandemic.
Even though the airline had no international routes and the Brazilian government still allowed carriers to operate within Brazil, passenger traffic had dropped off by 95% during March and April 2020. Many flights had to be canceled due to staffing shortages. Fleet and staff reductions nearly crippled the airline, but TransBrasil did provide free transport for health care professionals and other first responders, as well as repatriation flights for Brazilians trapped in other South American countries, particularly in Argentina, Chile and Colombia.
By April 2020 TransBrasil had to furlough many of its flight crewmen, although the airline still offered some flights at least once a day along many of its routes. The carrier was forced to temporarily close down its Salvador-SSA and Fortaleza-FOR hubs, leaving in place only flights to and from São Paulo-GRU. The airline also began offering its passenger aircraft to perform exclusive cargo operations, typically shipping medicines and packaged essentials in empty seats covered with plastic to protect them.
Passenger traffic began to recover gradually from September 2020 onwards, and TransBrasil began to accommodate more passengers after putting in place strict health safety protocols. The airline also began to transport Covid 19 vaccines for free, and continued to carry public health officials and first responders at minimal cost.
By May 2021 passenger traffic improved to the point where the Salvador-SSA hub was partially reopened, but the airline was forced to permanently shut down its former Fortaleza-FOR hub. In October 2022, jet air service to and from Fernando de Noronha-FEN was discontinued indefinitely due to poor runway conditions there, and has yet to restart service to the island since then.
Mr Silva’s Departure
In December 2022, Adriano Silva announced he would leave his role as CFO of TransBrasil Airlines to help care for his terminally ill wife. He retained his 1/3 stake in the airline and board seat, however. This left CEO Dante Cavalcante as the sole remaining member of the vaunted Três Amigos, although the carrier had long since recruited and mentored plenty of competent executive personnel to help run things.
The day after Mr Silva retired as CFO, Mr Cavalcante placed an order for several Aria T202 Transonic jets and laid out plans to use them on the busiest domestic routes as well as to initiate the company’s first international air service. Routes are planned for São Paulo-GRU «» Santiago-SCL, São Paulo-GRU «» Miami-MIA, São Paulo-GRU «» New York-JFK and São Paulo-GRU «» Boston-BOS. This action reportedly perturbed Mr Silva, as he was now powerless to prevent the move. The airline plans to begin taking delivery of the Aria T202s beginning in late 2024 or early 2025.
Destinations
TransBrasil Airlines currently flies to the following destinations within Brazil.
[ Map Link ]
Belem-BEL
Belo Horizonte-CNF
Boa Vista-BVB
Brasilia-BSB
Curitiba-CWB
Foz do Iguaçu-IGU
Florianopolis-FLN
Goiania-GYN
Foz Do Iguacu-IGU
Manaus-MAO
Natal-NAT
Porto Alegre-POA
Recife-REC
Rio de Janeiro-GIG - Focus City
Salvador-SSA - 2nd Hub
Santarem-STM
São Paulo-GRU - 1st Hub and HQ
Fleet
Current Fleet
TransBrasil Airlines current operates the following aircraft.
Embraer E195 - 2010-Present
Embraer E195-E2 - 2019-Present
Future Fleet
TransBrasil Airlines has placed firm orders for the following aircraft to be delivered in the near future.
† = JStream original aircraft
Aria T202 Transonic - expected late 2024/early 2025 †
=Nota Bene=
There was once a real life TransBrasil Airlines that existed 1955-2001. While that carrier had an interesting history in its own right, I decided to apply the name to a modern era low cost carrier (LCC) airline instead.
The Três Amigos don’t exist at all in real life, at least as far as I know. They were all randomly generated.
The supermodel Rosângela “Rosa” dos Santos isn’t based on any one real life model. Like the Três Amigos, she too was randomly generated. There were roughly 40+ notable Brazilian models to choose from when I did a search - Gisele Bundchen being the most obvious choice, I suppose - but in the end I decided to just let Rosa be her own person, so she was not role-modeled her after anybody.
BTW I named her Rosângela because I liked the little circumflex above the first A in her name, and the name Rosa dos Santos sounded like the kind of name that would belong to an awesome Brazilian or Portuguese supermodel.The Aria T202 Transonic is a concept aircraft of my own design, one of about a dozen Aria brand designs I’ve created from scratch. IRL the T202 would compete against the Airbus A321XLR and Boeing 757-200 in the MoM (middle of the market) segment of the industry. I included it in this story just for grins, since Embraer doesn’t have an aircraft type larger than the E195/E195-E2. (I figured the T202 would probably be used by TransBrasil to connect to North American destinations like Miami-MIA and Houston-IAH.)
I have also drawn up a regional airline based in northeastern Brazil that will eventually be introduced. I’m also designing a major, old-school legacy Brazilian airline for later inclusion, and I expect to design further Brazilian carriers as the muse hits me.
I love the Embraer E-Jet jets, especially for their lack of middle seats. Embraer the company is such a great company as well.
Lastly… Brazil as a nation has a very rich aviation history that is all too often overlooked by the rest of the world. To cite one specific example, Alberto Santos-Dumont was a true aviation pioneer whose achievements, at minimum, rival those of the Wright Brothers. He was also one of the few people who contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft.
Many Brazilians hold that Santos-Dumont actually preceded the Wright brothers in demonstrating the first practical airplane; the Brazilian embassy in Washington, DC even prominently features a bust of Mr Santos-Dumont on display to celebrate his achievements. I am not qualified to judge whether Santos-Dumont of the Wright Brothers deserve first credit for inventing the powered airplane, so I’ll leave that debate up to historians instead. But Santos-Dumont is a national hero in Brazil for good reason.
All liveries depicted in this article were conceived and drawn by the Author.
Aria aircraft templates displayed in this article are fictional aircraft, whose original templates were drawn by the Author.
All other aircraft templates shown in this article were licensed from Norebbo and augmented by the Author for display. Blank side view templates of these aircraft are available for purchase through ShopNorebbo.
Route Maps were created using Great Circle Map.