Azul makes a bid to supply the Brazilian Air Force with two Airbus A330-200

On March 7, the Brazilian Air Force, through its Annex in Washington, United States, held a bidding meeting for Tender No. 220004/CABW/2022, which seeks to acquire two Airbus A330-200s for future conversion to MRTT, capable of operating As a multi-purpose aircraft, including tanks and transport in general.

According to the minutes of the meeting seen by AEROIN, Only Azul SA, the holding company that controls Azul Linhas Aéreas, presented an envelope with an offer. According to the document, fifty other companies from around the world were invited to participate, but no proposals were submitted, which led to the understanding of “lack of interest”.

In contrast, Brazilian law allows an event with only one company showing. The next step involves the analysis of the qualification documents submitted by Azul and also the opening of the quote, which is scheduled to take place tomorrow, March 9, at 9 am local time, when the envelope will be opened with Azul’s proposal.

If the company qualifies after analyzing the documentation and the quote is accepted by the Air Force, then the supplier for the two A330s will be Azul (which is very close to happening).

The auction calls for production of the aircraft after January 1, 2014. Of the eight Airbus A330-200s currently in the Azul fleet, Only the PR-AIS (msn 1492) jetliner meets this requirement. All others are much older. Thus, it remains to be seen how Azul plans to fulfill FAB’s request.