Brazil airline Voepass halts some flights after deadly crash

By Gabriel Araujo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian airline Voepass has decided to reduce some service to nine locations after one of its planes crashed and killed 62 people in Sao Paulo state earlier this month.

Regional carrier Voepass, Brazil's fourth-largest airline by market share, said in a statement sent to Reuters that the move was "necessary" as it now has one less aircraft in its fleet of ATR turboprops.

Voepass said the measure was aimed at "minimizing potential delays and flight cancellations." Daily flights to nine locations will be interrupted at least until Oct. 26, when Voepass will reassess its network while planning for the next season, it said.

Voepass previously served a total of 47 destinations.

The company, which has a codeshare deal with Brazil's largest carrier LATAM, operated the ATR 72-600 that crashed in a residential area near Sao Paulo on Aug. 9, killing all 62 passengers aboard.

The plane was bound for Sao Paulo's Guarulhos international airport from Cascavel, in the southern state of Parana, when it crashed in Vinhedo, some 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.

Cascavel is one of the towns where daily flights will be interrupted starting Sept. 2, along with Sao Jose do Rio Preto and Rio Verde. Operations in the northeastern cities of Salvador, Natal and Mossoro will be halted on Aug. 26, Voepass said.

Flights to and from Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte and Porto Seguro have already been interrupted earlier this month.

Brazil's civil aviation authority ANAC had said last week it would intensify its monitoring of Voepass following the crash to make sure services would be maintained "in adequate conditions."

Some experts have cited icing as a possible contributor to the crash, as warning notices were issued that day for severe icing in the region. There have been multiple cases where pilots lost control of an ATR following reports of the formation of ice on the aircraft.

According to data from FlightAware, only two of the 190 ATR 72 flights operated domestically in Brazil on Aug. 9 were canceled, both by operator Voepass.

At least 13 different ATR aircraft took-off or landed in the region where the accident happened.

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Luciana Magalhaes in Sao Paulo, Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Aurora Ellis)