Established in 2008 by JetBlue founder David Neeleman, Azul was Brazil’s largest airline by departures and cities served, operating approximately 800 flights daily to more than 130 destinations. The airline built its business by focusing on smaller, underserved cities throughout the country.
In late 2024, Azul faced severe financial distress driven by pandemic-related debt, currency volatility, rising fuel costs and other operational challenges. Prior to the Chapter 11 process, Azul evaluated and executed multiple out-of-court liability management initiatives as part of its efforts to strengthen liquidity and optimize its capital structure. FTI Consulting was initially engaged to assess the airline’s business plan and help it secure bridge financing before subsequently being appointed Chief Restructuring Officer (“CRO”) and deploying a global, cross-segment team to lead a highly complex Chapter 11 process.
Azul emerged from Chapter 11 with a stronger financial foundation, preserving operations, protecting its market position and creating a path for long-term growth.
Azul secured $525 million in pre-petition financing, providing the liquidity needed to stabilize operations and prepare for a structured Chapter 11 process under extremely tight deadlines.
The restructuring eliminated $2.5 billion in debt, reducing leverage by nearly 50% while securing $950 million in new equity and $1.4 billion in exit notes with 7.5x oversubscription.
A tech-enabled review of thousands of contracts supported the identification and implementation of significant operating cost savings initiatives.
Throughout the restructuring process, Azul maintained operational continuity and preserved customer confidence.
FTI Consulting was initially engaged by Azul to assess its business plan and evaluate contemplated cost savings as a condition of $525 million in bridge financing. As the airline prepared for a potential Chapter 11 filing, the team began contingency planning and was subsequently appointed CRO to oversee liquidity management, business planning, governance and weekly board reporting.
Our corporate finance experts assessed Azul’s business plan and contemplated savings, supporting the $525 million bridge financing that provided critical pre-filing liquidity. Following the Chapter 11 filing, the team helped secure $670 million in fresh debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) financing, $950 million in exit equity and $1.375 billion in new debt.
Our strategic communications experts developed contingency plans, Chapter 11 messaging and multistakeholder communications strategies designed to preserve the airline’s reputation with employees, customers, investors and the public across Brazil and the United States.
The team deployed IQ.AI by FTI Technology™ to rapidly review Azul’s contract portfolio, prioritize critical agreements, support assumption/rejection decisions and quantify contract-related liabilities — delivering data-driven insights essential to the restructuring strategy.
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