Brazil's Varig, which was sold last month to avoid bankruptcy, should expand its fleet to 45 aircraft by year-end from 12 now, a representative of the airline's new owner said on Thursday.
Marco Antonio Audi, one of the partners in Volo do Brasil group, said Varig would get five additional planes next week, hiring 120 people per aircraft.
Volo do Brasil paid USD$24 million for Brazil's former flagship carrier last month. Volo, together with US investment fund MatlinPatterson, already controlled Varig's former cargo unit VarigLog.
Last Friday, Varig laid off 5,500 employees out of 9,485 in Brazil, which left it with 3,985 workers.
However Audi said on Thursday that Varig's new operating structure managed by Volo currently only employees 1,700 people.
He did not explain the discrepancy, but he said the total number of employees would reach 5,400 when the airline operates 45 planes.
He did not rule out abandoning the concept of an all-Boeing fleet, saying the company was analyzing the possible lease of Airbus and Embraer jets. He did not say where the five planes next week would come from.
Varig also will shift to a financial leasing model with the purchase of aircraft at the end of the lease, from their previous model of only leasing.
Audi said Varig would focus its operations initially on Brazil's main cities and, internationally, on the Buenos Aires, Caracas and Frankfurt routes. Later on, Varig should renew flights to London and Milan, he said.
