TransBrasil (airline)
TransBrasil was a Brazilian airline which ceased operations on 3 December 2001. During most of its history, Transbrasil was owned by local entrepreneur Omar Fontana. Its aircraft usually featured a colorful livery, remarkably with a rainbow on the tail fin. Transbrasil's base was President Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport in Brasília. From the 1970s and until its demise in 2002, Transbrasil was usually the third largest Brazilian airline after Varig and VASP, serving both domestic and international routes.
History
First years as Sadia (1955–1972)
Transbrasil was born in the State of Santa Catarina as a sister company of S/A Indústria e Comércio Concórdia, better known by its acronym Sadia. In 1953 Omar Fontana, a pilot and one of the sons of the founder of Sadia Attilio Fontana, noticed that a Douglas DC-3 remained parked at Joaçaba Airport, near Concórdia, for the entire weekend. Omar Fontana came up with the idea of leasing the aircraft for transporting the products of Sadia to São Paulo. In 1954 Sadia acquired its own Douglas DC-3 and started daily flights to São Paulo–Congonhas Airport, having Omar as one of its crew members. However, since it was not an airline with a regular schedule, it could not receive subventions from the government. In order to avoid this restriction, on January 5, 1955 Omar Fontana founded Sadia S/A – Transportes Aéreos with 35 employees, 3 Douglas DC-3s and 2 Curtiss C-46s. The first regular flight was operated on March 16, 1956.File:BAC 1-11 520FN PP-SDR T.Bsl Cong 06.04.75 edited-2.jpg|thumb|TransBrasil BAC 1-11 series 500 at São Paulo Congonhas Airport in 1975
Sadia enlarged Concórdia Airport so that a Douglas DC-3 could operate with full load and created the first route linking Concórdia with Videira, Florianópolis, and São Paulo–Congonhas. A short time later, Sadia was also operating to Londrina, Bauru, Ribeirão Preto and Brasília.
In November 1957, Sadia established a partnership with Real Transportes Aéreos and became a feeder airline at Florianópolis. Whereas Real's Linneu Gomes got 50% of the shares of Sadia, Omar Fontana became part of the managing board of Real, where he gained airline experience. At this time Sadia moved its headquarters to São Paulo and expanded services to Rio de Janeiro–Santos Dumont and Porto Alegre. This partnership ended in 1961 with the demise of Real and Fontana bought back the shares he had earlier sold to Gomes.
In 1962 Sadia bought TASSA–Transportes Aéreos Salvador S/A and increased its presence in Bahia. Its fleet had now 15 Douglas DC-3s and 12 Curtiss C-46s serving 53 cities.
In 1967 most of Sadia network was eligible to receive subventions from the Federal government and aiming at those subventions Sadia bought five Handley Page Dart Heralds. In 1968 Sadia joined the shuttle service between Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont and São Paulo-Congonhas airports, operated since 1959 by Varig, Cruzeiro do Sul and VASP. This service was abandoned only in 1999.
The first jet airliner type to be introduced into the fleet of Sadia, a stretched BAC One-Eleven Series 500, entered into service on September 17, 1970. In 1972 the name of the airline was changed to Transbrasil S/A Linhas Aéreas and its headquarters were moved to Brasília.
Consolidation as Transbrasil (1972–1983)
- 1973 - Transbrasil replaces its ageing Dart Heralds with new Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante light transport turboprops.
- 1974 - Transbrasil starts to phase out its remainder Bandeirantes, Heralds and 1-11s, replacing them with Boeing 727-100. By 1979, its fleet consisted only of 727-100s.
- 1983 - Its first Boeing 767-200 is delivered, and Transbrasil starts its international operations, initially with charter flights - and from 1989, with regular service - to Miami, Orlando and Washington D.C.
Apogee and downturn (1983–2003)
Despite its growing market share, Transbrasil was already experiencing financial problems. In 1987 after a formal request of its chairman Omar Fontana, the Brazilian government took over Transbrasil management. However, soon Fontana started to disagree with the Brazilian Air Force officers nominated to run the company and in 1989 the intervention was cancelled. After Fontana stepped out from Transbrasil management due to health issues, the company was run by his son-in-law Celso Cipriani - a former police officer with no previous experience in airline management. Cipriani's tenure on Transbrasil was controversial, and he has been formally charged with fraud, embezzlement of funds and property and mismanagement since then.
On January 14, 1994, Transbrasil created its regional subsidiary Interbrasil STAR to operate as feeder-carrier. Services started on July 3, 1995.
In addition to the management problems, Transbrasil was also facing other difficulties, specially the reduced or no profit from its international routes, severe competition from other companies in the domestic front and growing expenses. Following the September 11 attacks, despite several government loans, Transbrasil was amassing huge debts with several suppliers. When Shell refused to further supply fuel without payment, Transbrasil's then aging and reduced fleet was grounded on 3 December 2001. It never returned to the air, and was declared bankrupt in 2003 at the request of one of its major debtors - GE Capital Aviation Services.
After bankruptcy (2003–2010)
On 16 September 2009 the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court began the analysis of the legality of the bankruptcy of Transbrasil. The bankruptcy was confirmed on 2 October 2009.That same year, the Public Ministry was preparing to file charges against the senior management of the company. The main accused was Celso Cipriani, who allegedly committed crimes that hastened the company's demise.
In 2010, the debt which caused the bankruptcy of Transbrasil was invalidated by the Court of Justice of São Paulo.
On 15 February 2023, it was announced that the airframes of PT-TAA and PT-TAB would be moved away after being abandoned for 21 years at Brasília Airport. This finally happened on 17 February 2023.
Destinations
Transbrasil operated scheduled services to the destinations below. The list includes destinations served by subsidiaries Interbrasil STAR, Aerobrasil and also destinations operated under the airline original name Sadia.| Country | City | Airport | Notes | Refs |
| Argentina | Buenos Aires | Ezeiza International Airport | ||
| Argentina | Córdoba | Pajas Blancas International Airport | ||
| Austria | Vienna | Schwechat Airport | ||
| Brazil | Aracaju | Santa Maria Airport | ||
| Brazil | Bauru | Bauru Airport | ||
| Brazil | Belém | Val-de-Cans International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Belmonte | Belmonte Airport | ||
| Brazil | Belo Horizonte | Confins–Tancredo Neves International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Belo Horizonte | Pampulha Airport | ||
| Brazil | Brasília | Pres. Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Caçador | Caçador Airport | ||
| Brazil | Caculé | Caculé Airport | ||
| Brazil | Caetité | Caetité Airport | ||
| Brazil | Campina Grande | Pres. João Suassuna Airport | ||
| Brazil | Campinas | Viracopos International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Caravelas | Caravelas Airport | ||
| Brazil | Cascavel | Cascavel Airport | ||
| Brazil | Chapecó | Chapecó Airport | ||
| Brazil | Concórdia | Concórdia Airport | ||
| Brazil | Criciúma/Forquilhinha | Forquilhinha/Criciúma Airport | ||
| Brazil | Cuiabá/Várzea Grande | Mal. Rondon International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Curitiba | Afonso Pena International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Erechim | Erechim Airport | ||
| Brazil | Fernando de Noronha | Fernando de Noronha Airport | ||
| Brazil | Florianópolis | Hercílio Luz International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Fortaleza | Pinto Martins International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Foz do Iguaçu | Cataratas International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Goiânia | Santa Genoveva Airport | ||
| Brazil | Ilhéus | Ilhéus Airport | ||
| Brazil | Joaçaba | Joaçaba Airport | ||
| Brazil | João Pessoa | Pres. Castro Pinto International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Joinville | Joinville Airport | ||
| Brazil | Londrina | Londrina Airport | ||
| Brazil | Maceió | Zumbi dos Palmares International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Manaus | Eduardo Gomes International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Manaus | Ponta Pelada Airport | airport closed | |
| Brazil | Maringá | Dr. Gastão Vidigal Airport | airport closed | |
| Brazil | Maringá | Sílvio Name Júnior Regional Airport | ||
| Brazil | Nanuque | Nanuque Airport | ||
| Brazil | Natal | Augusto Severo International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Navegantes | Navegantes Airport | ||
| Brazil | Poços de Caldas | Poços de Caldas Airport | ||
| Brazil | Porto Alegre | Salgado Filho International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Prado | Prado Airport | ||
| Brazil | Quixadá | Quixadá Airport | ||
| Brazil | Recife | Guararapes International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Ribeirão Preto | Leite Lopes Airport | ||
| Brazil | Rio de Janeiro | Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Rio de Janeiro | Santos Dumont Airport | ||
| Brazil | Salinas | Salinas Airport | ||
| Brazil | Salvador da Bahia | Dep. Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport | ||
| Brazil | São José do Rio Preto | São José do Rio Preto Airport | ||
| Brazil | São Luís | Mal. Cunha Machado International Airport | ||
| Brazil | São Paulo | Congonhas Airport | ||
| Brazil | São Paulo | Guarulhos–Gov. André Franco Montoro International Airport | ||
| Brazil | Teresina | Sen. Petrônio Portella Airport | ||
| Brazil | Uberlândia | Uberlândia Airport | ||
| Brazil | Umuarama | Umuarama Airport | ||
| Brazil | Videira | Videira Airport | - | |
| Brazil | Vitória | Eurico de Aguiar Salles Airport | ||
| Canada | Montreal | Mirabel International Airport | ||
| Chile | Santiago | Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport | ||
| Netherlands | Amsterdam | Schiphol Airport | ||
| Portugal | Lisbon | Portela Airport | ||
| Portugal | Porto | Pedras Rubras Airport | ||
| United Kingdom | London | Gatwick Airport | ||
| United States | Miami | Miami International Airport | ||
| United States | New York City | John F. Kennedy International Airport | ||
| United States | Orlando | Orlando International Airport | ||
| United States | Washington, D.C. | Dulles International Airport |