Brazil Air Travel : Brazil  

Brazil Air Travel - Travel guide

Brazil

Air Travel

Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Swiss, Tam, Tap and Varig all offer scheduled services between Europe and Brazil.

From the UK, direct flights to Brazil are those operated by British Airways and TAM. Both offer daily services to São Paulo from London Heathrow.

Anyone wishing to visit Brazil at Christmas and the New Year or Carnival should make the reservations for flights well in advance, especially if wishing to fly economy.

Given the size of the country, the fastest and most effective way of getting around Brazil is by air. The main national carriers, all of which have an extensive route network, are Tam, Varig and Vasp. There are also a number of low-cost carriers such as Gol, Fly and Ocean Air. If you are going to travel extensively around Brazil, you should consider buying an airpass (see Airpass section below) prior to arriving in the country.

Like the US, the Brazilian carriers use certain airports as major hubs for serving regions of the country. Visitors are often surprised that in the south east, São Paulo (GRU), rather than Rio de Janeiro (GIG), is the main hub. Other hubs include Porto Alegre (POA) and Curitiba (CWB) in the south, Brasília (BSB) in the central west, and Salvador (SSA), Recife (REC) and Fortaleza (FOR) in the north east.