Airline Name
BRA Transportes Aereos (Brasil Rodo Aereo Transportes Aereos)IATA: B7 / ICAO: BRB / CALLSIGN: BRA-TRANSPAEREOS / BRASIL [sources vary]
Founded and commenced operations in 1999, ceased commercial operations in 2007 (Nov. 6th), ceased charter operations in 2010
(Financial difficulties)NOTE: While BRA ceased commercial operations by 2007, thus putting off most of their fleet, I read that they briefly revitalized operations around 2009, at least in the form of charter flights, with a sole 737-300 known as PR-GLK. However, this wasn’t to last for long - by April of 2010, the aircraft was sold to Puma Air, thus ending BRA’s services.
Country of Origin
Brazil, South America ()
Main Hub(s): Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport (GRU), Sao Paulo/Congonhas Airport (CGH)
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
(For this airline, most types are already available in WoA.)Aircraft operated (already in-game/planned):
Boeing 737 (-300, -400, B733/B734) - 11 former.
(8/3 for both variants, respectively.)
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-300 PR-BRB - later broken up)Here’s an older livery, appearing to bear a scheme very similar to that of EuroAtlantic Airways:
(Pictured below: Ditto, in earlier airline scheme)I’m not quite sure why this livery is so similar to EuroAtlantic, given that PR-BRB was never a part of their fleet at any point during its life. Now, there was another 737-300 that did originate from EuroAtlantic that eventually ended up with BRA, but again… not sure why this 737 had the scheme. It’s quite odd.
Anyways though, moving on. If you recall my note above about the lone 737-300 operating charter services up until around 2010, it actually received a redesigned livery specifically around 2009, which I’ll put below:
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-300 PR-GLK - later broken up, known as PR-PUA at end of its life)And finally, here’s the standard livery with a sticker meant to promote the Brazilian air charter company Rotatur:
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-300 PR-BRG - later scrapped, known as N250WF at end of its life)Now, this livery wasn’t exclusive to one aircraft - quite a few of their 737-300s had this livery, and even at least one 737-400 did, too. I’m not sure if it was applied to all 737-300s, but it did appear on quite a few -300 frames, from what I saw.
On the topic of the 737-400s though, let’s look at what they have to offer:
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-400 PR-BRH - later scrapped, known as N524MT at end of its life)Now, here are the Rotatur liveries for this type:
(Pictured below: Boeing 737-400 PR-BRC - now known as FAC1209)Do note the differences between the -300s ‘Rotatur’ liveries, such as the fact that the “Rotatur” text is now around the aft fuselage, the aircraft type text only appears to be on the left side (and also appears to be simplified), and the ‘Rotatur’ text is now more of a bronze color.
Before we move on though, the 737-400s had another livery to offer, being a variant of the Rotatur livery, this time with Varig Travel stickers - this livery appeared to have been exclusively applied to the aforementioned 737-400 PR-BRC above.
Here’s what that looked like:
(Pictured below: Ditto, in Rotatur / Varig Travel livery variant)This time around, the livery was made more consistent to the Rotatur livery on the 737-300, besides of course the Varig stickers.
However, do note that it seems only PR-BRC wore both the base Rotatur and Rotatur / Varig Travels livery when it comes to the 737-400s, upon looking into it more. (Correct me if I’m wrong on that though.)
Though now, with that covered, next aircraft:Boeing 767 (-200ER, -300ER, B762/B763) - 2 former.
(1 of each variant.)
(Pictured below: Boeing 767-200ER PR-BRV - now known as N606TW, stored)Now, the 767-300 had a somewhat different livery; instead of just displaying “BRA”, “SIL” was added on to the tail, forming “BRASIL”.
(Pictured below: Boeing 767-300ER PR-BRW - later broken up, known as N637TW at end of its life)Now, here’s a variant of that livery, with the fuselage “BRA” titles also becoming “BRASIL”, and with the word “way” being added inside of the “B” - thus known as the “Way Brasil” livery from what I’ve seen.
(Pictured below: Ditto, in the Way Brasil livery variant)Anyways, that should be it for the 767s, so now, let’s go on to the next type:
Aircraft operated (not in-game):
Airbus A310 (-300, A310) - 1 former.
(Pictured below: PP-PSD - later damaged beyond repair, known as ST-AST at end of its life)Now, this A310 appears to have been leased out from Passaredo, still bearing its general colors; however interestingly, only the BRA operating titles applied to the left side of the aircraft. I’m honestly not quite sure how long it was with BRA for, given how it’s not even recorded in Planespotters - however given that the aircraft went with Passaredo in December 1997, and left exactly 3 years later in 2000, I don’t think it stuck with BRA for long.
Anyways, before I end off this segment, there’s a little bonus I wanted to include.
Around June of 2007, BRA signed a deal with Embraer for the delivery of 20 Embraer E195s, along with options for 20 more. This would have made BRA the first operator of E-jets in Brazil… if it was seen through to the end.
But of course, with BRA ceasing commercial operations before the end of 2007, their orders never came to be. However, there were a few renders made, and while they aren’t super high quality, I figured I’d include them anyways.
I’d treat this as a fun little “what-if” for the airline, and I’d understand if they aren’t deemed realistic enough to be added or something like that. Either way, though:Embraer E195 (no specific variant, E195) - 20 orders (not taken up/delivered).
(Pictured below: A render of the theoretical E195)
Why should this airline be added?
I’d say this airline should be added primarily because it would add a nice bit of variety for aircraft that players can see at GRU, given BRA used the airport as one of their main bases. It would also be great to see with the upcoming 737 remodel - not to mention the 767s, especially the -200, which doesn’t have many liveries going for it right now. I also think the E195s would also make for a fun little theoretical addition - even if they weren’t delivered in real life, the plans were certainly there for it to happen.Either way though, I feel that it’d definitely be a modest yet great addition to the game, and I honestly hope that, if added, it’d be available on the map as a normal operator, given they operated into the late 2000s. (or even the early 2010s, if you look at PR-GLK lol)
SOURCES:
BRA Transportes Aereos’ Planespotters.net Page
BRA Transportes Aereos’ Wikipedia Page
BRA Transportes Aereos’ Wikipedia Page (Portuguese) - includes some extra info, such as routes