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when it is on its own daylight savings time, from October to February. On Brazil’s east coast, the Atlantic coastline extends 7,367 kilometres. In the west, in clockwise order from the south, Brazil has 15,719 kilometres of borders with Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Brazil is the most populous country in Latin America and the ffth most populous country in the world. The highest concentration of Brazilians live nowadays in the Atlantic coastal region. Of the total population, the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo contain approximately 41%; the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Bahía, Pernambuco, and Ceará contain about 23%; and the remaining states hold about 36%. Today, the population of Brazil is extremely urbanized with 78% of the population living in cities, a

worldwide phenomenon customary to fast developing countries.

So what’s actually driving the Brazilian airlines boom? The main driver behind the present witnessed growth is the rapid revitalisation of Brazil’s commercial aviation sector along with the fast development of the country’s economy, about 8-9% per year.

Spurred by the fnancial troubles of the legacy main fag carrier Varig, other newer airlines like Gol and TAM increased their market presence and the subsequent competition fostered an important upswing in the sector in since 2005 roughly. In 2008, Gol bought Varig for $275 million and announced its intention to increase the number of seats ofered at low fares to stimulate further Brazilian rise in air travel. “With this acquisition, Brazil will maintain an important fag in global aviation, the industry will beneft from an increase in

’ One of Azul’s first ATR 72 was given a special pink livery to advertise Brazil’s national campaign against breast cancer in 2011. Um dos primeiros ATR-72 da Azul recebeu uma pintura especial cor de rosa para promover a campanha nacional brasileira contra o câncer de mama em 2001. © ATR

◊ TRIP Linhas Aéreas was the very first Brazilian company to buy the ‘long’ version of the baseline ATR 42 in January 2007. A TRIP é um dos principais operadores do turbopropulsor europeu ATR no Brasil. Em 2010 a companhia recebeu 6 novos ATR 72-500 elevando sua frota para 30 ATR. © J.-M. Guhl