Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras

If you see a blue A330 with the small “azul” titles in Lisbon or Porto, you have one of South America’s most exciting airlines in front of your lens. At home in Brazil, Azul flies a type mix you will hardly find at any other airline: ATR turboprops, Embraer regional jets, Airbus narrowbody jets and widebody aircraft – all under one brand. This page shows you how Azul is structured, which aircraft you can expect where and how to recognize the airline with confidence.

Azul at a glance

Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras is a Brazilian airline headquartered in Barueri, a suburb of São Paulo. It was founded in May 2008, and the first scheduled flight took off on December 15, 2008 in Campinas – with destinations such as Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Porto Alegre. The name simply means “blue” in Portuguese. It was chosen in 2008 in a public naming contest in which “Samba” was the strongest competitor.

Behind Azul stands David Neeleman. The Brazilian-born entrepreneur had previously built JetBlue in the USA and later also founded Breeze Airways. At Azul, he transferred some ideas from North America to the Brazilian market: consistent service, modern regional jets and flights even to cities that the big airlines hardly served.

Instead of fixating on crowded São Paulo-Guarulhos, Azul made Campinas-Viracopos (VCP) airport, about 100 kilometers northwest of São Paulo, its base. That remains a core of the business model to this day: Azul connects many mid-sized cities through its own hubs and offers connecting flights across the country. Besides Campinas, Belo Horizonte-Confins (CNF) and Recife (REC) are the most important nodes.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code AD: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board and the ticket.
• ICAO code AZU: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign AZUL: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

For spotters in Europe, the ICAO code is the fastest way to find an Azul flight on the tracker. Since Azul offers only a few flights a day in Europe, it pays to know the arrival times beforehand. How to read ADS-B data properly is explained in the guide to flight tracking for spotters; how to set up notifications for airlines and registrations, in the article Setting up flight tracking alerts.

From start-up to major airline: a short history

Azul grew quickly. Already in the first year, numerous domestic destinations were added, and in 2009 the frequent flyer program TudoAzul launched, which awards points based on the ticket price paid rather than miles flown. The biggest leap came with the takeover of TRIP Linhas Aéreas: announced in 2012, approved with conditions by the competition authorities in 2013, completed in 2014. TRIP brought a large ATR fleet and a dense regional network, and the brand disappeared afterward. As a reminder, Azul kept one Embraer and one ATR in the old TRIP colors.

From 2014, it went long-haul. With used Airbus A330-200s, Azul started flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida in December 2014, followed in 2016 by Campinas–Lisbon. In 2015, United Airlines came in with $100 million, and in the same year the Chinese HNA Group announced a larger stake.

In 2020, Azul took over the regional airline TwoFlex from Jundiaí and turned it into Azul Conecta. It flies single-engine Cessna Grand Caravans to small places that are too small for an ATR. From the bankruptcy of Avianca Brasil, Azul also took over A320neos, which you recognize by a different cabin with fewer seats.

In May 2025, Azul started Chapter 11 restructuring proceedings in the USA. Operations continued, and United and American Airlines supported the restructuring with fresh capital. In February 2026, Azul emerged from the process with a significantly lower debt load. Such restructurings often change the fleet and route network – which is exactly why it pays to check the current schedule before you firmly plan an Azul sighting.

The fleet: from turboprops to widebody jets

At hardly any airline is the fleet list this varied. According to publicly available fleet lists (as of 2025), Azul’s scheduled operations looked roughly like this – the exact numbers change constantly:

Type	Role at Azul	Seats (typical)	Spotter note
ATR 72-600	Regional routes, feeder	70	High-wing with propellers, many from the TRIP era
Embraer E195 (E1)	Domestic workhorse	118	Older generation, smaller engines
Embraer E195-E2	Domestic, replaces the E1	136	Large engines, long wing without winglets
Airbus A320neo	High-demand domestic routes	174	Partly ex Avianca Brasil with fewer seats
Airbus A321neo	Main routes	214	Longest narrowbody in the fleet
Airbus A330-200	Long-haul	about 270	Older A330, being replaced by the neo
Airbus A330-900	Long-haul to Europe and the USA	298	Rolls-Royce Trent 7000, new winglets
Cessna Grand Caravan	Azul Conecta	9	Single-engine turboprop for small airfields

On top of that come converted A321 freighters for the cargo division. At times, Azul also operated two Airbus A350-900s, including to Orlando and Paris; the airline has since ended this operation. So if you have an Azul A350 in your collection, you own a piece of airline history.

You will find the types in detail on the pages for the ATR 72-600, the Embraer E195, the E195-E2, the A320neo, the A321neo as well as the A330-200 and A330-900. The manufacturers have their own profiles: Embraer, ATR and Airbus.

E195 or E195-E2? How to tell them apart

In Brazil, the Embraer jet is the aircraft you see most often at Azul. Azul put the E195-E2 into service in 2019 as the first airline in the world and is gradually replacing the first generation with it. Both versions look similar at first glance, but a few features help.

For a detailed guide to all variants, see the article Telling Embraer E-Jets apart. For the Airbus narrowbody jets, the guide A320neo or ceo? helps – even though Azul itself flies only the neo generation.

How to recognize Azul

Azul’s livery is strongly shaped by the color that gives the airline its name. The most important feature is the “azul” titles in lowercase letters on the fuselage. Blue dominates the tail. Because the name is so short, you can still read it well even from a distance.

Almost as helpful is the registration. Brazilian aircraft carry prefixes such as PR-, PS-, PP- or PT-. At Azul, you see PR- and PS- especially often, for example on the A320neos and the E195-E2s. How registrations are structured in general is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations.

Azul is also known for many special liveries. Several A320neos carry designs of Disney characters, such as Donald Duck or Goofy. Over the years, there were also an A330-200 with a large Brazilian flag and advertising liveries on Embraer jets. Which special liveries are currently in service changes – it is worth a look at current photo databases. How to track down such aircraft is shown in the guide Finding special liveries.

Spotting Azul in Europe

In Europe, Azul is a rare visitor, and that is exactly what makes the airline attractive. The focus is on Portugal: since 2016, Azul has connected Campinas with Lisbon Airport. Since 2025, Porto Airport and Madrid-Barajas Airport have also been on the route network. On these routes, mostly Airbus A330s are used, increasingly the new A330-900.

In April 2023, Azul also started flights from Campinas to Paris – not to Charles de Gaulle, but to Paris Orly Airport. Initially, the Airbus A350 flew there. Whether and how the route is currently served, you should check in the schedule before a trip – after a restructuring, airlines often cut long-haul routes quickly or move them. The guide Plane spotting at Madrid-Barajas fits the Madrid route; in Spain, Azul works with Air Europa through a codeshare.

Lisbon is especially exciting because Azul works closely there with TAP Air Portugal. The connection also has a personal history: from 2015, David Neeleman was involved through a consortium in the privatization of TAP, before the Portuguese state took over its stake in 2020. Many passengers from Brazil change in Lisbon to TAP flights across Europe. You will find tips on spots and runway direction in the guide Plane spotting in Lisbon.

Azul in Brazil and the USA

If you travel to Brazil, you experience Azul in its full breadth. At Campinas-Viracopos, you see all the types in one day: ATR, E-Jets, A320neo and the long-haul A330s. Belo Horizonte-Confins and Recife mainly show domestic traffic with E-Jets and ATRs. Azul is also present at the country’s largest airport, São Paulo-Guarulhos, but there LATAM Airlines Brasil and GOL dominate.

In the USA, Azul has flown to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida since 2014. Besides the route from Campinas, connections from Belo Horizonte, Recife and Belém were added over the years. For US travelers, that is a good chance to see Azul widebody jets without a flight to South America.

Brazil, by the way, has a long airline history. Big names like Varig, VASP and Transbrasil are long gone – Azul, by contrast, belongs to the younger generation that shapes today’s market.

Common mix-ups

• Mixing up AD and AZU – AD is the IATA code in the flight number, AZU the ICAO code on the tracker.
• Thinking Azul is a pure low-cost airline – Azul operates hubs, connecting flights and long-haul.
• Equating the E195 and E195-E2 – the engines and the wing reveal the generation.
• Logging the Azul A330-900 as an A330-300 – the neo has Trent 7000 engines and new, curved wingtips. The article A330 or A340? helps.
• Equating the codeshare flight number with the operator – a TAP flight number can appear on an Azul flight.
• Overlooking Azul Conecta – the small Cessna Caravans are also part of the Azul family.

Conclusion

Azul is the airline for spotters who like variety. Between the ATR turboprop and the A330-900 lies the complete range of scheduled air travel, plus the Embraer jets built in Brazil and a long list of special liveries. In Europe, every Azul A330 in Lisbon or Porto is a highlight – if you know the schedule and the tracker, you can turn the rare visitor into a sure sighting.