erikyow
Active Member
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- Nov 20, 2009
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Indeed. It's a matter of distance. Boston-Brazil (São Paulo, most likely) would be in the region of about 9 hours. Boston-Ponta Delgada is about 4.5. So the flight to Brazil is effectively twice the distance. That said, airline costs often rise faster as flight time increases, so Brazil could have possibly even as much as 2.5-3x the costs as a flight to the Azores. However, given that the flight would be filled primarily with tourist traffic, any airline would be hard pressed to command an average fare twice the price that SATA gets for its flights and still fill its planes enough to make money. Especially when, unlike the Azores, the airline flight Boston-Brazil would have a lot more competition. Meaning that they would have higher costs for a longer flight with less money. Not a recipe for a successful flight.
Eastern New England is, I believe, home to the largest Portuguese-speaking population in the world outside of Lusophone countries. Another unique flight to Boston is the 1-2x weekly TACV flights to the Cape Verde Islands, off Africa. However, given the location of those other countries, Boston makes sense as a launching point. For Brazil, the multitude of airline hubs between Boston and Brazil mean that the market is adequately served through New York, Washington, Atlanta or Miami (I think Charlotte might have a flight now as well).
I remember back in the late-1990s, there were rumours that VARIG was looking to start Boston flights. The source of that rumour was the little airport newspaper that you can pick up at the terminals. So, take it with a grain of salt. Of course, VARIG at the time had status as the flag carrier and today has been taken over by a competitor and barely exists in name anymore.
