Samba do Brasil!

In November, a new lessee was finally found, with the plane making its way to Brazil to fly for Passaredo Linhas Aéreas as PR-PDH. Passadero christened the ATR “Tucano” after a municipality in the province of Bahia.

In late 2016, the MSN 572 returned to its lessor and was parked in Saarbrücken. It was there that we discovered the colourful plane and were able to lock in the most beautiful parts for our latest Aviationtag Edition when it was scrapped!

Passaredo Linhas Aéreas has had an eventful and, by European standards, somewhat unusual past. It was founded by the bus company Passadero in 1995 for regional flights. It is headquartered in Ribeirão Preto at Dr. Leite Lopes Airport.

In 2002, it ceased operations for economic reasons, but resumed them again in 2004. In 2012, the Brazilian carrier filed for bankruptcy, but flight operations continued with creditor protection in place.

In 2017, the company was then sold to Viação Itapemirim, though the purchase was contested shortly afterwards and reversed for breach of contract. In August 2019, Passadero bought
the airline MAP Linhas Aéreas, renaming itself VoePass Linhas Aéreas.

Just two years later though, VoePass sold MAP Linhas Aéreas on to Gol Linhas Aéreas, whilst the Amazon routes and MAP planes stayed at VoePass. Last year, the company announced it was expanding its fleet with Boeing 737s. It now operates a total of 11 planes, many of them for Gol.