Businessman in the field of Brazilian private aviation born in Pereira Barreto, in the interior of São Paulo, and who it left its mark in the history of Brazilian aviation and that it piloted with determination TAM's dash in the market national. He dropped out of school in junior high year (1957) to help with household expenses. He was a mechanic's assistant, clerk's apprentice and bank office boy, in São Paulo. Passionate about airplanes since childhood, he returned to the countryside and, with the money he had saved, paid for his enrollment in the course at the Catanduva aeroclub. He completed his pilot course (1958), got his license, went to Londrina and got a job at Táxi-Aéreo Star, where he piloted a two-seater Cessna 140 alone for the first time.
With the implementation of large agro-industrial projects in the northwest region of São Paulo, he returned to São José do Rio Preto (1959) and went to work at the company Táxi Aéreo Riopretense, driving a Cessna-170. He entered, as a pilot (1962), in Táxi Aéreo MaríliaS.A, TAM, a company founded by a group of ten aviators (1961), starting to work directly for the Orlando Ometto sugar factory, spending three years transporting rice, meat, bricks and even animals, flying alone and taking care of the plane's maintenance. He made a lot of money but got malaria seven times. In the meantime, Grupo Ometto bought 51% of TAM's shares and moved the company's headquarters to São Paulo.
The "commander" marries and does the same, but leaves the company because it only wants to transport pouches. He has no vocation for cargo pilots, preferring human relationships. He was at VASP when he received the invitation from the National Credit Bank. The institution had the plane, but needed a pilot for the Araguaia Development Company. The salary was high and allowed him to save money to buy his first plane, a Cessna 170 (1966), with a capacity for three passengers. He moved with his family to the municipality of São Félix do Araguaia and even attacked by the disease, he founded his company, ATA-Araguaia Transportes Aéreos. In two years, he built a fleet of 15 aircraft, larger than TAM's.
In that same year (1968) he was invited by the Ometto group to become a minority shareholder (33%) of TAM. Although the company was not in a good situation, even with insufficient equity to pay the bills, it accepted the offer due to the constant bouts of illness, many in mid-air. Investing all his competence, he bought half of the shares of TAM (1972) and assumed the direction of the company. He modernized the fleet and made the company grow, buying (1973) 10 new Cessnas 402, the first Brazilian aircraft equipped with radar, inaugurating the regular line between São José dos Campos and Rio de Janeiro (1975) and a new São Paulo-Araraquara flight, in addition to becoming the main shareholder of the group, with 98% of the shares (1976), making the company already seen as a phenomenon. While aviation grew 15% every year, TAM increased 70% every six months.
He created TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais (1976), initially operating with six Embraer EMB-11-C Bandeirante aircraft, serving the interior of São Paulo, Paraná and Mato Grosso. It finally took over all the shares of the company (1979) and entered the decade of its consolidation with the arrival of the Fokker F-27s (1980). TAM has reached the milestone of one million passengers transported (1981) since its foundation and two million passengers transported passengers (1984), winning the Top Marketing award for the quality of the service that offered. It acquired Votec (1986), which is now called Brazil-Central, and extends its network of routes, mainly to the central and northern regions of the country. In the same year, it launched VDC - Voo Direto ao Centro, linking São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Curitiba. Started the First Class Service (1989) with the Fokker-F-27, connecting the central airports of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The company gained more visibility with the arrival of the Fokker F-100 (1990), inaugurating the aviation to jet and high standard in regional transport and is on its way to being the best airline in America Latin. Created the Fale com o Presidente service (1991) and reached the milestone of eight million passengers (1992) transported since its foundation, creating a new style of flying, with traits of informality and concern to value each passenger. He launched the Fidelidade Card (1993) and created the Eductam Foundation, to give scholarships to the needy, support humanitarian and participate in cultural and sporting projects and also created the Wings of Um Sonho Museum, to preserve the memory and history of the aviation.
Bought a deactivated airport in the interior of São Paulo to create a museum of old aircraft, where set up the largest and one of the only collections of old aircraft in the country, and a TAM maintenance center. He was named Salesman of the Year (1994) and innovated by accepting the first female commander in his crew. It launched the Ticketless service (1995), electronic boarding without a ticket, and the TAM Fidelidade Credit Card. For the first time, Exame magazine elected TAM the Best Airline in the Transport sector, in Best and Biggest, and Air Transport World magazine named it the best regional airline in the world. He showed all his ability to promote TAM's image after six accidents involving the company's aircraft threatened to undermine the company's prosperity.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
The worst of them happened right after being voted the best company in the sector, when flight 402, a Folker 100, which made the Rio-São Paulo air bridge crashed and collapsed shortly after taking off from Congonhas Airport, killing 99 people (31/10/1996). After the accident, "the captain" began to receive passengers from some flights that left Congonhas on the planes of the planes, in an attempt to recover the company's image. After that, his letters and videos aimed at passengers became a constant on TAM flights. A year later, a bomb exploded during a flight, killing a passenger. From then on, TAM started to adopt an even more aggressive marketing strategy and to continue growing, it had just ordered 100 aircraft from Embraer.
Acquiring Helisul (1996) it expanded activities to the south of the country, and changes the name of Brasil Central changes to TAM-Transportes Aéreos Meridionales, which becomes the national airline of the group, operating without restrictions throughout the Brazilian territory and making flights international. The company was elected the most profitable in the country by the Folha de São Paulo newspaper, the most profitable in the world by the Airline Business magazine, and won the Grand Prix of advertiser of the year in the Award Columnists, from the Propaganda and Marketing section (1996), while the commander received the 1996 Excellence Award, from the Association of Engineers of ITA - Technological Institute of Aeronautics. It acquires 80% of Lapsa shares from the government of Paraguay and formed TAM Mercosul, with concession for routes in South America and Europe departing from Asunción.
It closed the code sharing agreement with American Airlines to operate the São Paulo-Miami line and purchased five AIRBUS A330-200 aircraft (1997). It carried out the first flight to Europe (1999), bound for Paris in partnership with Air France and inaugurated the offer of business class seats on flights of the Super Bridge between São Paulo, Rio, Brasília and Curitiba and, for the third consecutive time, he is chosen as personality of the year by Aero magazine Magazine. His company is recognized as one of the most modern in the world with a total of 98 aircraft, 58 are jets with more than 100 seats, with an average age of less than five years. Flights to Paris are now daily (2000), with departure and arrival at Charles de Gaulle, increased the fleet and expanded the offer of seats and began to operate only with state-of-the-art jets generation.
The company was already the most profitable in the country, with sales of over US$ 1 billion (2000). Today, with international routes, 87 planes and 7,600 employees, it reached the leadership in the national air transport market (2001), with more than 30% of passengers, surpassing rival Varig. Unfortunately, after spending the weekend at his farm in Ponta Porã, on the border between Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraguay, he died during a helicopter ride, when the device crashed and exploded near Fortuna Guazú village, located in the municipality of Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay (2001), 25 kilometers from the border. He left a widow and three children, two of them already following in their father's footsteps, in the direction of TAM, and the company in the position of the most profitable in the country. In the 2002 carnival, he will be honored by the samba school Acadêmicos do Salgueiro, from Rio de Janeiro, with the samba-enredo "Nas asas de um dream".
Figure copied from the TAM website
http://www.tam.com.br
ATTACHMENT
MEDALS, AWARDS AND AWARDS
Orders of Aeronautical Merit, in Grades: Officer, Commander and Grand Commander.
Order of Merit Santos Dumont (1993).
Medal of "La Aeronáutica" awarded by the Government of the Republic of Paraguay (1993).
"Sales Man 1993" by the Association of Sales and Marketing Managers of Brazil, ADVB (1993)
"Public Opinion 1993" Award, granted by the Regional Public Relations Council -SP (1993).
Exame Magazine Award "Maiores e Melhores" in the Air Transport category (1994).
"Silver Medal" at the New York Festival, for the Case of your Fidelity Card (1995).
"Second Most Profitable Company on the Stock Exchange" by Revista Conjuntura Econômica (1995).
"Most profitable company in Brazil" by the newspaper "Folha de São Paulo" (1995).
"Most Profitable Airline in the World" by Airline Business Magazine (1995).
"Best Regional Air Company in the World/95" from Air Transport World Magazine (1995).
Exame Magazine Award "Biggest and Best" in the transport category (1995).
96 Excellence Award, granted by América Economia Magazine (1996).
"Best of Transport" award by Transporte Moderno magazine (1996).
"Personality of Quality" Award, by Editora Banas (1996).
"Air Person of the Year" Award (1996) by Revista Aérea, published in New York for over 50 years.
96 Excellence Award, by ITA - Instituto Tecnologia de Aeronáutica (1996).
Exame Magazine Award "Maiores e Melhores", in the category of best company of the year (1996).
"Quality South America 1997" Award, by ABIQUA- Brazilian Association for Quality Incentives, in S.Paulo (1997).
Marketing Best Award (1998).
"Personality of the Year" award by Aero Magazine (1999).
"Best in Transport Services" award by Exame Magazine (2000).
Medal of the Order of the Legion of Honor (Legion d'Honner), which is the highest French decoration awarded to foreigners (2000).
"Consumidor Moderno" Award for Excellence in Customer Service, by Consumidor Moderno Magazine (2000).
"Aero Magazine de Aviação 2000/2001" award, in the best Brazilian Airline category by Revista Aero Magazine (2001).
Source: Biographies - Academic Unit of Civil Engineering / UFCG
Order R - Biography - Brazil School