As domestic travel opens in Brazil, holidaymakers set their sights on the forthcoming high season. And as is usually the case, Ceará is one of the favourite destinations, particularly for Brazilians in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. As a result, LATAM recently announced a big uptick in flights to airports in Ceará and has chosen Fortaleza as its domestic flight hub for Brazil.
More flights to Ceará than before the pandemic
For LATAM, Ceará is one of the most important parts of Brazil for the take-up for flights since April 2020. “We now have recovered 95% of our domestic flights in Ceará and have an average seat occupancy of over 70%,” said a company representative, quoted in O Povo broadsheet.
More importantly for tourism in Ceará, LATAM has more domestic services to Fortaleza than before the pandemic. In November this year, the airline was offering 13 domestic routes to Fortaleza Airport, compared with 11 in November 2019.
Increase in flights between Fortaleza and Brazil’s largest cities
In keeping with LATAM’s choice of Fortaleza as a domestic flight hub for Brazil, the company has increased its flights and frequency of services. As from November this year, LATAM offers the following connections:
· Fortaleza-Maceió – services will run five times a week.
· Fortaleza-Natal – this flight has resumed for the first time since April 2020 and is available five times weekly.
· Fortaleza-Recife – also out of service since the beginning of the pandemic, the flight now operates on a daily basis.
· Fortaleza-Sao Luis – another daily connection that has just resumed after over 18 months.
· Fortaleza-Salvador – LATAM has restarted this service to the largest city in Northeast Brazil and it is available daily.
· Fortaleza-Belo Horizonte – this connection last operated in September 2019 and is now running on a daily basis.
More flights between Fortaleza and Sao Paulo
Southeast Brazil provides the biggest tourist market for Ceará and the forthcoming high season (December to February) is no exception. LATAM reports that bookings are brisk and as a result, the airline is increasing its weekly flights by over 32%.
As from December, LATAM will offer 49 connections between Fortaleza and Sao Paulo a week, up from 37. In addition, the city of Belem will also get more flights with an increase from 7 to 11 weekly.
Jericoacoara, one of the most popular destinations for holidays in Ceará, will also receive more LATAM flights. The airline will operate a daily flight between the beach resort and Sao Paulo from 1 December and offer double the number of seats at least until January.
(Source: O Povo)
