Eastern Airlines plans continued growth in Latin America with three new routes to Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Eastern Airlines Plans Service To Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Belo Horizonte is Brazil’s third largest metropolitan region behind Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeriro. Eastern will serve Tancredo Neves International Airport (CNF) from Boston, Miami, and New York. The New York and Miami routes are already for sale, with New York service operating Tuesdays and Saturdays and Miami on Mondays and Fridays (with same days turns in Belo Horizonte). The Boston schedule has not yet been released.
Flights begin in late March with pricing running $198 for a one-way restricted economy class ticket from Miami up to $598 for a flexible premium economy seat. New York pricing is slightly higher. Eastern has also not indicated which aircraft it will use on the new route, but now has a fleet of:
- 5 Boeing 767-200s
- 4 767-300s
- 3 777-200s
Eastern Airlines Miami to Belo Horizonte Schedule
The Miami service will depart Miami in the evening and arrive the following morning. The aircraft will remain on the ground all day and return to Miami overnight.
2D110 Miami (MIA) to Belo Horizonte (CNF) departing 10:00PM arriving 7:35AM+1
2D111 Belo Horizonte (CNF) to Miami (MIA) departing 10:00PM arriving 5:25AM+1
Eastern Airlines New York to Belo Horizonte Schedule
Eastern’s New York service will depart JFK at night, then do a quick-turn in Belo Horizonte, with a daytime service on the return.
2D112 New York (JFK) to Belo Horizonte (CNF) departing 11:00PM arriving 9:45AM+1
2D113 Belo Horizonte (CNF) to New York (JFK) departing 10:15AM arriving 7:ooPM
Why Belo Horizonte?
No other U.S. carrier currently serves Belo Horizonte and that is exactly the way Eastern likes it. It hopes to capitalize on this niche market to capture leisure demand. It’s why its aircraft are all single cabin and frequencies are not daily. Eastern Airlines’ CEO Steve Harfst told AirlineGeeks:
“There are a lot of small, secondary, or niche types of markets that aren’t big enough for big legacy airlines to commit capacity to, but still have viable demand. And with our cost structure and the way that we’ve built our company, we think we can operate limited frequency in these smaller markets and do well and provide a service that doesn’t exist today. Namely giving people a chance to fly nonstop in markets that require one or two stops.”
CONCLUSION
Eastern Airlines will offer scheduled service to Belo Horizonte. Flights from New York and Miami are now on sale, with plans to add Boston. Flight prices are reasonable, but shop around and expect no-frills service onboard.
Will you fly Eastern Airlines to Belo Horizonte?
image: Eastern Airlines
Putting aside the pandemic, this is a smart move. BH is not only a large population center but Minas is the point of origin for much of the Brazilian diaspora in New York/New Jersey/Connecticut and Massachusetts. People have expected a United flight from EWR for many years, but of course that never came (nor ever restarted flights from NYC to Rio) . . . but maybe it now will. Brazil has no entry restrictions on North Americans and these routes are probably more travelled at the moment than almost any other place from the USA, with fares nearing their normal historical levels around the holidays.
Sorry, it won’t last. Many big US airlines tried for many years (including when Brazil was booming and with a very strong currency) to add routes to other big Brazilian cities but they failed. No matter how hard they try at the end it is Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro that will pay the bills.
I remember those horrible times when the Brazilian real was so strong. It made Brazil far too expensive!
it will probably work out with GOL & AZUL add-ons to RIO & SAO…EZE,MVD & SCL that is….
Southeastern Massachusetts has a huge Brazilian community, and much of that population is from Minas Gerais, the state where Belo Horizonte is located. A lot of residents with family in Governador Valadares, also in Minas Gerais.