The airline started Sao Paulo flights earlier this month, but as we’ve previously noted, that was with rights leased from United. The US And Brazil will have an Open Skies treaty as of fall 2015, but the existing lease agreement ends next fall. Thus the importance of the route award.
The other Sao Paulo route awards DOT handed out were:
• Delta for a second daily flight from Atlanta to Sao Paulo starting this fall
• American Airlines for a daily Lax Angeles flight starting this fall
• And Delta to Detroit, which is to say Delta gets to continue its Sao Paulo flight as the right it currently uses transfer to US Airways in spring 2015. (Without the US Airways/American Airlines merger, these would presumably be used for a Philadelpia-Sao Paulo flight.)
And yes, a combined US Airways/American Airlines could possibly be required to give up some Sao Paulo rights as a condition of having their proposed merger approved.
