Earlier this week, an Azul’s Airbus A320neo had to reject a landing at Guarulhos International Airport when the pilots and air traffic controllers saw another aircraft still on the runway. What happened? Let’s investigate further.
What happened?
On March 9, at around 14:58 UTC, an Airbus A320neo from the Brazilian airline Azul Linhas Aereas had to reject a landing while approaching Guarulhos International Airport (GRU), Brazil.
Another aircraft that had previously landed on runway 09R at Guarulhos was still there, so the air traffic controller requested Azul pilots to do a go-around. The plane landed safely nearly 20 minutes later, according to a playback of the flight by FlightRadar24.com.
The Azul Airbus A320neo, registration PR-YRZ, was operating flight AD4619 between Recife, in the eastern point of Brazil, and São Paulo.
According to a video posted on YouTube, the air traffic controller advised Azul’s pilots of the danger and directed them to do a go-around. The video is available here.
“Azul 4619, begin a go-around; there’s still another aircraft on the runway”, the controller said. A few seconds later, he added, “do the go-around now, Azul 4619.”
A rejected landing is a last opportunity to avoid completing an ill-advised landing attempt, in this case, to avoid a runway collision due to a runway incursion from the previous aircraft.
An Azul Airbus A320neo had to reject a landing in Guarulhos earlier this week. Photo: Airbus.
About the aircraft
PR-YRZ is one of Azul’s 43 Airbus A320neos. It has a capacity to carry up to 174 passengers, according to data provided by ch-aviation.
The leasing company AerCap owns the aircraft and has a contract with Azul Linhas Aereas until 2031. Azul first received the plane in 2019.
Since the incident took place on Wednesday, Azul has deployed PR-YRZ on 19 domestic flights throughout Brazil.
According to data provided by Cirium, Azul has over 6,400 scheduled flights using the Airbus A320 fleet in March.
Azul in 2021 and 2022
Azul closed 2021 as Brazil’s leading airline carrying 23.3 million passengers, still 15.8% below 2019 levels. It surpassed LATAM Brazil and GOL Linhas Aereas, Azul’s domestic competition.
By the final quarter in 2021, Azul had mostly recovered its pre-pandemic traffic, carrying 7.1 million passengers, only 3% below 2019 levels.
Nonetheless, Azul has lost its spot as Brazil’s leading carrier in 2022 so far. According to data provided by Brazil’s civil aviation authorities, the airline carried 2.2 million passengers in January, while GOL carried 2.7 million and LATAM Brazil had 2.6 million travelers.
It is too early to tell if GOL and LATAM will recover their 2019 spots as Brazil’s top two airlines in terms of carried passengers.
Azul carried 23.3 million passengers in 2021. Photo: Airbus.
Azul recent news
Earlier this week, Azul shared a way to raise funds for Ukrainians by setting up virtual flights. The money raised from customer bookings will go to charity to aid the crisis in Ukraine.
In February, the airline introduced the world’s first Embraer E195 freighter. This aircraft improves Azul’s cargo capabilities by increasing the average Embraer E1 capacity from seven to 15 tons.
What do you think about Azul’s go-around in Guarulhos? Let us know in the comments below.
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