VoePass Plane Plummets From the Sky in Brazil, Killing 62

(Bloomberg) -- A VoePass aircraft with 58 passengers and four crew members on board crashed in Brazil, killing everyone on board and leaving flaming wreckage in a residential neighborhood. 

The airline, which operates a small fleet of planes made by ATR, said the flight was traveling from the state of Parana to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport. It crashed in Vinhedo, a city in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo. Governor Tarcisio de Freitas confirmed in a news conference that no one had survived.

Videos posted to social media Friday afternoon showed the plane suddenly dropping from the sky, spiraling as it fell. It remains unclear how the accident occurred, VoePass said in a statement. The last known tracking by FlightRadar24 of the plane was when it was at 4,100 feet (1,250 meters) and was approaching Sao Paulo.

X post above from local media outlet Folha de S.Paulo showing video of the crash.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked for a moment of silence for the passengers during an event Friday, saying that “it seems that everyone has died.”

“I have to be the spokesperson for some very bad news,” he said. “My deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims.”

Sao Paulo state firefighters said seven teams were working at the crash site. Freitas said he and Carlos Roberto Massa Junior, the governor of Parana state, planned to fly to Vinhedo immediately.

The aircraft involved in the crash was an ATR 72 model, a twin-engine turboprop model that typically seats about 70 people. ATR is a joint venture between Airbus SE and Italy’s Leonardo SpA. 

A representative for ATR didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside of European office hours.

VoePass, based in Sao Paulo state, is one of Brazil’s oldest operating airlines. VoePass has a fleet of 16 ATR models, including two of the smaller -42 variant. The planes have an average age of about 17 years, according to tracking website Planespotters. The aircraft involved in the crash was 14 years old, according to FlightRadar24.

The airline, formerly known as Passaredo, announced an expansion of its codeshare agreement with Latam Airlines Group SA in 2023. Latam and VoePass didn’t reply to requests for comment.

--With assistance from Richard Clough, Simone Iglesias and Rachel Gamarski.

(Updates with background on ATR, VoePass beginning in seventh paragraph)

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