Fare wars hurt profitability of Brazilian airlines (Financial Times: FT.com)

November 22, 2011

On a recent weekday morning João and Sebastiana Silva, a retired couple in their 80s, were at São Paulo’s domestic airport to catch their first flight to Manaus, Brazil’s Amazonian city.

“We just wanted to see what it was like and the tickets are much less expensive than in the past”, said Mrs Silva, as she clung to her husband’s arm. “But we went to the international airport first by mistake so we’ve missed our flight.”

Over the past year demand for air travel in Brazil has soared as rising salaries and tumbling ticket prices have enabled many locals to ditch long-distance buses and take domestic flights for the first time.

Complete article in FT.com