Review of Azul flight from Campinas to Paris in Economy

Hi, dear flight-report members and readers! In this FR I'd like to present a review of a longhaul flight from Campinas (VCP) to Paris Orly (ORY) on a Azul A330-200, taken on 16-17 May 2024. It was the final longhaul leg of my round-the-world trip EU - China (Shanghai) - New Zealand - Chile - Uruguay - Argentina - Paraguay - EU. I chose Azul because of non-trivial pair of the airports I've never visited before and because of advertised A330-900. The ticket price was 400 EUR, and it was not the cheapest options to fly from Sao Paulo area to EU.

Unfortunately, after some time when ticket was issued, the aircraft type was changed to A330-200 (for me A332 is the second-dullest aircraft type after B789, and if I knew, I should've chosen TAP from GRU to LIS. Overall, flying longhaul with Azul was quite a frustrating experience (except crew, which were nice), but at the same time it was kind of interesting experience, because the layout of the aircraft was not typical for A332. 

Intro

There is quite a number of airlines, whose fate was concerned with Brazil-born enterpreneur David Neeleman: TAP Portugal (privatization), WestJet (founder), JetBlue (founder), Breeze (founder) and Azul (founder). 

Azul Brazilian Airlines started operation in late 2008 with a fleet of Embraers. Its goal was to serve underserved domestic destinations. In 2014 Azul got 3 used A332s and started longhaul operations. 

Currently AD has rather small widebody fleet of 5 A339s (whose 2-class layouts C34_Y264 are absolutely identical to the TAP ones including the seat models - this definitely has something to do with Neeleman!) and 5 A332s (with very different 2-class layouts) and rather large narrowbody fleet of 6 A21Ns, 50 A20Ns, 36 E295s, 33 E195s and 39 AT76s. AD is one of just 3 operators of A330ceo in Latin America (the others two are Aerolineas Argentinas with 9 GE-powered A332s and BoA with 3 second-hand RR-powered A332s) and the only A330neo Latin American operator.

By the fleet size Azul is the second-largest airline in Brazil after LATAM Brasil (JJ). The third-largest is GOL (G3) which has only narrowbody fleet of B737s. 

Between late September 2022 and late January 2024 AD operated 2 A359s (from Hong Kong Airlines), but it seems like A359 is too big and too capable aircraft for Brazil: LATAM Brazil phased out A359s during the pandemic and Ch. 11 restructurization and got Chilean B789s instead, and Azul also was not able to make A359s work profitably. 

AD decided that A339 is the right aircraft for them, but after receiving the first 5 ones in 2019-2020, deliveries came to a halt due to AD's financial difficulties (their rolling effect resulted in Chapter 11 restructurization, which AD is undergoing now). At the same time AD quite chaotically acquires used A332s to cover lack of the widebody capacity. In 2024 AD took 2 former Etihad A332s and soon will take 3 ITA's A332 (with their incredibly tight, dated and falling apart economy seats - I flew one of them from Toronto to Rome in October 2024). Worth noting that whereas AD's first 5 A332 are RR-powered, the upcoming A332s from ITA are GE-powered, which only adds to AD's chaotic hunting for the capacity.

There is quite a number of airlines which take used A332s to start or boost longhaul network (or to replace ancient B763s and so on), like Azul, Boliviana de Aviacion, Air Serbia, HiSky Europe and so on. Old A332s are very cheap on second-hand market, but quite capable airplanes. But quite often cabins of these A332s due to the aircraft's age look like they were taken from the junkyard. I call these airlines "junkyard hunters". 

Campinas Viracopos Airport (VCP)

VCP, being one of the main Brazilian cargo hubs, is also the main hub of Azul. Despite being listed as one of Sao Paulo airports, in fact it's farther from Sao Paulo city centre than Beauvais airport from Paris city centre! It's correct to consider VCP as the Campinas airport, not Sao Paulo airport (the main airport of Sao Paulo is Guarulhos, which connected to the city by train line, and the secondary airport is Congohnas not far from the city centre, serving only domestic flights). To reach VCP from Sao Paulo, you should take a bus from Tiete Rodoviaro (bus station).

VCP terminal looks very modern, spacious and airy in the landside, but the concources of international gates are dull, like A- or B-gates in FRA. Moreover, the number of AD's widebody flights is so small, that currently unused part of this concourse can be closed and you can wander only around small number of gates. From the gates area, where my flight was departing, it was not even possible to see the runways and make planespotting, so the waiting was very boring. It seems like domestic gates area in VCP is much more interesting and lively.

The Aircraft

The aircraft of today is the first AD's widebody - old 2003-built PR-AIZ in standard livery, which before flew for MEA and Gulf Air. Even though due to scheduled aircraft swap I missed to fly A339 (I later flew ITA's A339 from Rome to Toronto, with much more interesting layout), at least it was my first time onboard RR-powered A332. Its layout is 2-class C35_Y207 (PR-AIV in the beautiful "Brazilian Flag" livery also has the same layout). 

When boarding commenced, sun was already setting. 

The Economy Cabin

The economy cabin consists of 207 seats in 2-4-2 layout, distributed between 2 cabins. The first 6 rows have increased pitch. Right duo seat block in 2 very last rows are used for crew rest (2 last photos in this gallery), because AD's A332s don't have crew rest bunks.

The Economy Seat

AD is one of the rare airlines that open online check-in 72 hours before departure. I forgot about this and when I tried to check-in 48 hours before departure, I discovered that all the window seats were already taken. I tried my luck at the check-in desk in VCP, but with zero success - the flight was full. So, I was left with aisle seat 31D in the central 4-seater block. What a frustration in addition to getting an oldshit A332 instead of a newish A339 (at least the economy seats here were slightly better than Recaro CL3710 in A339).

The economy seat model listed at aerolopa as "ZIMmagic", but I cannot identify the model correctly and not sure that aerolopa is right. The seat was not feeling especially comfortable. The seadwith was miserable 17.0". It seems like narrow economy seatwidth is sadly a norm in A343/A333/A332 with old (pre-2004) interiors. Only when I later flew an old Korean Air A333 (on ICN-KIX), the seatwidth there was almost 18". I cannot completely explain this phenomena, why most operators of these old early-2000s frames chose narrow seats in 2-4-2 layout. 

The seat has adjustable headrest, an IFE with adjustable angle of the screen and seat pocket. The row pitch was quite miserable. The seat felt tight in both width-wise and pitch-wise dimensions. Waiting on the seat were pillow and blanket. 

The IFE was quite dull, but at least flight map was quite modern (note that Campinas, as well as Sao Paulo, is located at the moderately high plateau above the sea level).

The Flight

Despite being an oldshit, this A332 had moodlighting. As pushback was commenced, it was turned into blue.

BTW, this is the overhead panel over central 4-seater in ancient A330s. Looking at this panel, one can think that the layout is actually 2-2-2-2.  

The last sight of VCP terminal in a far away (from me) window. At least it got completely dark outside and I was not regretting about shitty location of my seat.

A view of the rear economy cabin as the crew turned on the cabin lights before meal service.

The meal (beef with vegs and rice) was incredibly subpar. It was the worst hot meal I've ever had on Latin American airlines. The meal was edible, but not tasty, and the size was very small. But at least the crew were nice. One can be sure that crew on any Brazilian airline are always nice even if everything else is subpar, like in this case.

I still was very hungry and asked for an additional meal. Even though the flight was full, the crew managed to find pasta (thanks!), but it was also very small, and even two AD's meals didn't help me to become filled.

Then I got some sleep (it was quite hard to sleep in these seats), and woke up before the sunrise, which I observed from 4R door. It was dull overcast over the Atlantic. 

The were snacks and drinks available in the galley. Notice the MEA (the previous operator of this aircraft) logo! 

As I was hungry, I took some snakes.

It was already daylight outside and still nothing interesting to see except the winglets with Brazilian flag. A view from 4L door, as the crew told the passengers to keep window shades closed.

The moodlighting was turned to orange when the crew were preparing to serve the breakfast. On the 2nd foto on the right there are 2 duo seat blocks under the curtain used for the crew rest.

The breakfast was also… meh, subpar. Just a dull snackbox.

Meanwhile we were flying over Iberian peninsula and there was still nothing interesting outside due to clouds. So, in reality, being far from a window was not a big issue due to continuous dullness outside.

Before landing the moodlighting was turned to blue.

During descent to ORY I managed to take a photo of Paris city centre using telelens. It was the only moment when I was really regretting about not having a window seat. View-wise the entire flight was dull except the very last minutes…

Maneuvers before landing in ORY.

The Economy Cabin After The Flight

Views of the rear economy cabin upon disembarkment.

Views of the front economy cabin upon disembarkment. The first 6 rows are kind of "economy plus", having an increased row pitch.

The Business Cabin After The Flight

Azul stands out having quite big business class cabin in two its A332s, including this one (PR-AIZ). Typical A332 layout has quite small business cabin between 1L/R and 2L/R doors.

But here there is also the second business cabin after the 2L/R doors, consisting of 15 Stelia Solstys seats (BTW, this is the seat model Iberia had in its former A346s in business and still has in its A333s, so AD's business cabin kind of closed my geschtalt). By the modern standards these seats are dull and obsolete with aisle-oriented seats being fully exposed.

The front business cabin consists of 20 Stelia Solstys seats in 1-2-1 layout, but I decided not to visit it, because it looks more or less the same as the second one.

Paris Orly Airport (ORY)

The arrival terminal in ORY was T3. When I tried to take some photos of the planes outside from a window opposite to border control, a very hostile security officer appeared and threatened me with the police, so I had to delete these photos (I've never had such problems in CDG, where I've been multiple times!). This "greeting" was obviously telling that flying AD into ORY was not a good idea.

Anyway, after the border I went to T4, where I found a rooftop view desk and retook photos of the same planes from a better angle. Honestly speaking, except of famous "French Leisure Sardine Cans" (Corsair and Air Caraibes A350s and A330s) and of our dull AD's A332, planespotting in ORY is not exciting. 

Design-wise ORY is not exciting and mostly dull. But, compared to CDG, it much better connected with Paris, having a tram line to the neares metro station. 

Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!