TRIP Linhas Aéreas


TRIP Linhas Aéreas S/A was a domestic regional airline based in Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil.
According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil between January and December 2012 Trip had 4.47% of the domestic market share in terms of passengers per kilometre flown.

History

The airline was established in 1998 with two Embraer EMB 120 Brasilias and was wholly owned by the Caprioli Group until November 2006, when Águia Branca Group bought 49% of its capital.
On January 25, 2007 TRIP Linhas Aéreas has placed an order for seven new ATR 72-500s with options for a further five of the twin turboprops, this deal is its first new ATR order, and the first for the ATR 72-500 in Brazil. The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127-powered aircraft will be configured with 68 seats. With this growth the company expect have more than 500 employees by 2010. As of January 2007, the company has 500 employees.
On November 13, 2007 TRIP Linhas Aéreas and Total Linhas Aéreas agreed to merge, a transaction which was completed on May 2008. The brand Trip is dedicated to passenger service whereas Total is dedicated to charter and cargo services.
On September 4, 2008, it was announced that SkyWest Airlines agreed to purchase up to 20% of the shares of TRIP Linhas Aéreas. The purchase was done in 3 installments and was completed by 2010. In early May 2012 TRIP bought back the shares.
On August 20, 2010, with the bankruptcy of Flex Linhas Aéreas, Trip took over its services provided to Aerodrome Flight Information Service, and Meteorology Service and Airport Information Service on several airports in Brazil through the . FCC serves, among others: TAM Airlines, VRG Linhas Aéreas, VarigLog, Avianca Brazil, NHT Linhas Aéreas, and Embraer.
of TRIP Linhas Aéreas at Maringá Regional Airport
In order to optimize the use of its aircraft, TRIP announced on July 27, 2011 the creation of TRIP Cargo, the cargo division of TRIP Linhas Aéreas. On a first moment, TRIP Cargo will only use the cargo compartment of its aircraft operating scheduled passenger flights. However, as soon as demand justifies, TRIP cargo will start using ATR-72s for pure cargo flights during the night, when not operating passenger flights. The conversion of the aircraft can be done in 15 minutes.
On September 9, 2011 TRIP Linhas Aéreas placed an order for 18 new ATR 72-600s with options for further 22. Nine of the 18 aircraft will be purchased directly from ATR with the remaining to be leased from Air Lease Corporation and GE Capital Aviation Services. With the entry into service of the 18 firm ATR 72-600s, TRIP Linhas Aéreas will become the largest ATR operator in the world, with a fleet of 51 ATRs. The new aircraft will be configured for 68 passengers.
On March 30, 2011, TAM Airlines signed a letter of intentions to purchase up to 31% of the shares of TRIP Linhas Aéreas. Both airlines maintain code-share agreements since 2004. A final decision had however been postponed, and finally in February 2012 the purchase agreement was not renewed. Code-sharing operations ended on March 28, 2013.
and an ATR-72 of TRIP Linhas Aéreas at Santos Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro.
On May 28, 2012, it was announced that Azul Brazilian Airlines purchased TRIP creating the holding Azul Trip. During the year 2012 the brands will co-exist operating in integrated form but eventually, upon government approval, they will merge, maintaining the name Azul.
On a press release dated of September 7, 2012,, Azul and Trip officially announced some visible characteristics of the merger:
Azul and Trip started comprehensive code-sharing operations on December 2, 2012, and all flights carry now only the IATA code of Azul. However already on October 1, 2012 Trip started operating flights on behalf of Azul. On March 6, 2013 Brazilian authorities gave the final approval for the merger with a few restrictions related to code-sharing with TAM Airlines and slot use at Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont Airport. On May 6, 2014 the merger process was completed with the final approval from Brazilian authorities. That day the brand TRIP ceased to exist.

Destinations

Fleet

As of December 2012 the fleet of Trip Linhas Aéreas included the following aircraft:

AircraftTotalOrdersPassengers Notes
ATR 42-50019–47
ATR 72-50014–66
ATR 72-6002168
Embraer 1759–86
Embraer 19010–110

Airline affinity program

Tudo Azul is Trips's Frequent Flyer Program. It is based on amounts spent and not on flown miles. Members earn 5% of the ticket value on their accounts, which later can be redeemed as a ticket discounts. It is valid also for Azul Brazilian Airlines flights.