Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S. A. (Azul Brazilian Airlines) (Sao Paulo), founded by David Neeleman of JetBlue Airways (New York) and Morris Air (Salt Lake City), is coming back to the United States (in a way).

The fast growing airline has ordered a new fleet of Airbus A330-200 and A350-900 aircraft for daily service
to and from United States gateways.

Azul expects to debut its first international flights by early 2015. The U.S. flights will be served from Azul’s brand new $1.5 billion terminal at Sao Paulo (Campinas), strategically located 50 minutes from downtown Sao Paulo.

Campinas is Brazil’s largest airline hub offering connections to 104 domestic cities. Azul’s U.S. gateways will be announced later this year.

Routes from Campinas Airport:

Azul will operate the new international routes with a fleet of 11 wide-body Airbus aircraft. The airline has ordered five Airbus A350-900 with deliveries beginning in early 2017. In addition, six Airbus A330-200 will be used to launch service in early 2015. The new aircraft will be leased from ILFC and will be equipped with Rolls-Royce engines. Azul’s fleet currently comprises of 80 Embraer and 56 ATR aircraft.

With less than six years of operations, Azul already has flown more than 85 million customers and changed the face of air travel in the Brazilian market since its first flight, on December 15, 2008.

The foundation of the airline was built around the Brazilian made Embraer E-jet. From that foundation, Azul has expanded to 880 daily flights, which represents one-third of Brazil’s daily departures. The airline currently operates a fleet of 136 aircraft and employs more than 10.000 people.

Azul: