Abra Group, CCO, Angus Clarke at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Americas 2026

Transcript

Angus Clarke:We have put through a number of fare increases. We've tightened the inventory a little bit because at the end of the day, with this oil price, our costs are up 20%, as are everyone's. So we need to recover a minimum of 20% incremental pricing increases. So I would say we're in line with what the competitors have reported in terms of their pass-through. So we are happy with, with how the price increases have flowed through. We're happy with the consumer behavior. And it seems this time, unlike a lot of other oil spikes, the consumer actually understands what's going on. I mean, that's hard to always relate cost with demand, but in this instance, I think most people feel it's essential that the real cost to travel is passed through and it's working. So no, we're happy with it. It's— I mean, we've got, we've got a bit of runway to play out, but by the end of the year, we're looking to have a higher rate of pass-through in line with what our competitors have said. Long haul is good. No, it's— I mean, look, we, we don't have the largest long-haul network. We are growing long haul. We've— we're adding, we're adding Rio to JFK. We're adding Rio to Lisbon for GOL. And we obviously have London, Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid. No, it's still good. There's been no real slow-up in long-haul demand. So, so far, so far, so good. I mean, South America is away from the action in terms of the Middle East and Iran. So it is a safe haven destination. But that's a continuing trend for the last 3 or 4 years. South American traffic has been on a positive growth trajectory. So we're seeing that continue. So we've already announced most of this. So Lisbon, the ambition is to get to Lisbon daily. We're going to be 6 a week. JFK, we're launching with 4 a week in the summer season, and then we'll come back in next summer. We're coming off temporarily, but we'll code with American, so there'll be consistent code. And then Paris is the other targeted destination. London looks good on the list, but it's hard to get slots at Heathrow. And we need more aircraft. So that's the idea. But what's the rationale? You know, we want to go after the corporate customer in the South American market, which LATAM is serving very successfully right now. So without a comprehensive long-haul network, without comprehensive long-haul partnerships, it's very hard to have a corporate offering that levels up to that. GOL have done a great job in the domestic market achieving a certain level of share, but we think this is the next pillar. And I talked about it on the panel a little bit, where we go in the medium term has to effectively align with our target to have a very competitive corporate offering in the Spanish-speaking markets and the Portuguese-speaking markets.

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