FARNBOROUGH — During the 2026 Farnborough International Airshow, Airways had the opportunity to interview Francisco Raddatz, Chief Procurement Officer at Abra Group, the UK-based holding company for Gol (G3), the airlines under the Avianca (AV) brand, and Wamos (EB).
Abra Group is entering a very exciting new phase on its journey, having emerged from the air travel downturn during COVID into a position of reasonable strength in South America, its primary market. Currently, the group's airlines, Avianca and Gol, hold positions two and three in the South American market, respectively. In 2025, they carried approximately 71 million passengers between them, giving them commanding authority in the South American skies. And Abra has greater ambitions still within the not too distant future.
To start with, Abra used the Farnborough Airshow to its advantage, ordering up to 45 Embraer E195 E2 jets, split across 20 firm orders and 25 purchase rights and options. As of now, it is unclear where in the Abra group these aircraft will end up; however, Raddatz suggested they could replace Gol’s aging fleet of Boeing 737-700 jets and some of Avianca’s Airbus A319 jets.
Operational flexibility was the focus of the E2 order with Embraer, with them being able to “right-size certain markets where we operate today […] but also it can open new markets where we don’t operate today because we don’t have the right equipment.” Raddatz further described the E2 as a “good tool that can work on each of those fronts…”
Abra’s reentry into the regional jet market might not necessarily be a seismic shift when in the company of fellow current and soon to be Embraer operators, Latam (LA) and Azul (AD), with their far more substantial fleets and orders for E2 jets, however it will certainly give the group the flexibility it needs to not only remain competitive on the routes it holds, as well as test the markets for new route pairs that the group previously would have thought unviable.
Abra Group Expansion
On the topic of testing new markets, the group is currently preparing for Gol Airlines of Brazil to enter the widebody long-haul market. The airline entered the American market some years ago, flying to Miami (MIA) and Orlando (MCO) from cities in northern Brazil, using their Boeing 737-8 jets. These routes have proven to be strong in demand, and Abra will be using Gol to capitalize on the evident demand for the American market, as well as for expansion into Europe. For this mission, they intend to initially use an Airbus A330 from fellow Abra Group airline, Wamos, before introducing five new Airbus A330-900 jets. This is largely a step away from Gol’s original mission, which was Brazilian domestic and intra-South American operations.
Azul is a very well-known brand in Brazil, with a very respectable network and customer base. At this point, long-haul operations could arguably be seen as inevitable. On the topic, Raddatz stated that “Abra always thought that it was good for our strategy to set up at some point widebody/ long haul operations out of Brazil.” He highlighted that confidence in this project stems from the connectivity they are able to offer. These aircraft are to be based at Gol’s hub in Rio De Janeiro’s Galeão airport (GIG), where Gol has a significant presence.
Importantly, these A330 jets will allow Gol to provide a new onboard product, known as “Insignia by Gol”, and will be a translation of the product already in use by Avianca, thereby creating consistency across Abra’s airlines.
Raddatz highlighted that the Abra group did indeed believe it was time for Gol to step into fully fledged long-haul travel, stating that “we have a good base to support this operation.” Abra Group already has extensive long-haul experience with Avianca and spare capacity with Wamos, its Spanish-based charter operation. “It’s a project that is Gol, but has a lot of support from Avianca’s team […] it’s a perfect combination of what we are trying to achieve as Abra’s platform of airlines, keeping the identity of each company, but ultimately leveraging through the different airlines of the platform, trying to get synergies, to achieve connectivity across the region, to have a strong loyalty program.”
Abra Group is in a very strong position in the South American market. They have taken the time to build their products, rather than rushing them to meet the competition before a strategy has been fully thought through.
They are in a strong position because they have many bases across the airline industry. This allows them to keep their planning departments in-house, rather than seeking outside help. They have been able to get to this position in their own way, using different lessons learned from different corners of the group to inform decisions made in other areas of the company.
Flexibility and collaboration are the two main themes that can be ascertained from the company’s current outlook. They have taken the time to test markets in their own time, in their own ways. Now is the time to provide more to their customers in underserved markets, as seen in their new long-haul operations with Gol. And they will continue to test the peripheries of their markets with the introduction of the Embraer E2 in the not-too-distant future. Abra has built up the momentum of their company, and they certainly feel it is time to put what they have learned into practice.
Featured image: Ed Lee/Airways
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