TABB (Transportes Aéreos Brasileiros Baratos)

TABB (Transportes Aéreos Brasileiros Baratos), is a Brazillian airline that was founded in 2000 and ceased operations in april 2021. After being bought by Azul. It name means Cheap Brazillian Air Transport. It was given this name becouse the airline was very cheap, beaing one of the cheapest airlines in the world.

About
The project for the airline begun in 1997, in an attempt to make a new rival for TAM, VARIG, VASP and TransBrasil, airlines that were very popular in the country. In 1999, the airline was aproved and could already start flying, they ordered an Airbus A300 as theyre first plane, it was then delivered the year later, the airline was oficially on business. It didnt take long until the airline got very popular, after all, it was very cheap. With them, you could fly from Rio Grande do Sul to Rio for only 110 reals. it´s livery was criticized for being lazy, but still, the airline kept growing, this was a problem for the other airlines, VARIG, VASP and TransBrasil were the most affected, and with the creation of GOL, the year later, they didnt survive. TAM could make it, and makes daily flights till today, but named as LATAM insted of TAM.

Destinations
The tree countries the airline most made destinations was Brazil (of course), USA and Chile, they also made flights to Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Canada, Portugal and South Africa.

Theyre hub used to be Santos Dumont airport and operated at 61 airports (national and international) in total.

Fleet
Before getting bought by Azul, the airline operated only the A320 family. They Also operated the CRJ900 (2015 -2018), Embraer 190 (2013 - 2019) Boeing 777 (2009 - 2016), Airbus A340 (2004 -2020) Ane Boeing 747sp (2003 - 2016). Those aircraft are till today on a  aircraft cemitery , awaiting they´re uknown future.

Crisis and Azul purchase
In 2020, the airline was in an economic crisis becouse people were just choosing other airlines and the COVID-19 pandemic. After GOL started offering cheaper flights. They tried to make even cheaper flights, but then it would be just way to cheap, its important to mention that the airline maneger and founder died in 2019, and the airline was managed by his son, his son was a terrible manager and was fundamental for the airline to go in an economic crisis, he had the terrible idea of making tickets more expensive, many people were angry and stopped flying TABB, also recomending them to change theyre name from cheap to expensive, hundreds of flights were canceled, every time the airline got closer and closer to bankrupticy, also they stopped being a memeber of the Star Allience and sold all theyre 5 A340´s to Hi Fly, but it wasnt enough. The airline kept going for a few more months, many workers got fired, but, the airline still went on, after getting OneWorld membership and selling some of theyre planes, the airline, somehow, could still get back on track, the airline again started offering cheap flights, after GOL decided to make theyre tickets more expensive, it was obvious GOL made theyre flights so cheap so TABB could finally go bankrupt, in january, the airline was more or less normal, there was still some negative impacts but it was still ok. But, in febuary, tragedy happened, TABB flight 1245 was hijacked after takeoff in Congonhas, the aircraft, a 6 year old A320neo, crashed into a residential area, were apperently the hijacker´s ex lived. Of the 109 people aboard, only two survived. This caused the airline to get even worse, becouse the airline´s name was infamous becouse of the flight. When the airline was about to go bankrupt, it was bought by Azul in 2021, in august, TABB was oficially Azul airlines, they were bought by Azul for 50 million dollars. TABB made theyre last flight in november 2021. And then ended an airline that dominated the brazilian market for decades. Today, The airline´s planes was actually divided, most of the planes went to Azul, but some planes were given to LATAM and Air Canada.

Flight 1245
As mentioned earlier, TABB Flight 1245 took off from Guarulhos airport in january 4th, 2021 with 109 people aboard. It was a normal day, since it was new year, many people were buying airplane tickets. The flight was going from Santos Dumont, Rio to El Dolrado, Bogotá. On the flight, was a hijacker that wanted revenge from his ex wife for aperantly cheating on him. At around 14:32, brasilia time, the flight was hijacked, the plane made irratical moves for over 3 minutes, this was tracked by the atc, wich tried multiple times to make contact with the aircraft, but there was no response.

The hijacker killed the pilots and was now under control of the plane, he did flight school for 2 years and had only 19 hours of experience on an Airbus A320neo. But unfortunatly, everything went right to him, after 20 minutes after the silence of the flight, The ATC decided to call the FAB, Brazillian Air Force. But it was too late, the airliner was alredy flying over the city. 3 minutes after ATC called the FAB, the plane crashed, killing 107. An investigation took place and apparently the hijacker tried to damage the black box, so investigators wouldnt find out, too bad for him, he had no success. The truth was discovered and more security was added to cockpit doors and better airport security.

Reviews of the airline
Skytrack: 3 Star Airline / Customer reviews: 5/10

Tripadivisor: 3.5/5 star airline.

Allflight.com: 6/10