By Hans Hoffmann and Jan Homma

In 1975 the Brazilian government decided to divide the country into five regions for domestic air transportation and to provide concessions to one newly created airline per region. The northeastern and eastern parts of the country together formed one of the five regions and comprised eight complete Brazilian states plus parts of another three. In addition to air traffic rights within this region, the concession also was valid for connecting the region with three major cities in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo and Brasilia. The government of Bahia state together with the airlines Transbrasil and Votec established Nordeste Linhas Aéreas Regionais or Nordeste for short. The new airline started operations in June 1976 from its main base Salvador Bahia airport.

In the early years the Nordeste fleet consisted of five Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirantes acquired from Transbrasil. In total 17 units have been in service, of which five were lost in accidents. Around 1985 the Nordeste management wanted to add a 50-seat FH-227B to the fleet, but Bahia state as one of the owners did not approve the plan. In 1988 the first three of seven Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias were added to the fleet. Early 1992 the airline performed route proving flights with an F50 leased from Fokker and these were so successful that Nordeste as the first Latin American airline placed a firm order for the Dutch turboprop on 24 February 1992; however, this order was cancelled five months later for financial reasons. In about the same period Nordeste entered the jet age by adding Boeing 737s to the fleet, first four 737-500 series and later three additional 300 series. The new aircraft types made the withdrawal of the Bandeirantes possible with simultaneous significant increase of capacity.

In 1975 Rio-Sul had been designated as the regional airline for the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil. Rio-Sul belonged to the Ruben Berta Foundation that also owned Varig and Rio-Sul operated as a domestic feeder for Varig that was active at four continents. In 1995 Rio-Sul bought Nordeste and Nordeste became part of the Ruben Berta Foundation. Despite being unified, the two regional airlines continued to operate separately, but shared many facilities. The incorporation marked a rapid modernization phase for Nordeste and Rio-Sul. Just like Nordeste, Rio-Sul took the F50 into service, ten units in total, and also the EMB-120 Brasilia and Boeing 737 were added to the Rio-Sul fleet. At the end of the nineties both airlines ordered the domestic Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet. In 1997 Rio-Sul and Nordeste introduced a new corporate identity, aligned with that of Varig.

In the aftermath of the 2001 worldwide recession in aviation, Varig, Nordeste and Rio-Sul merged administratively in 2002. In 2005 all three airlines were placed under bankruptcy protection and started a reorganization process. As a result, the group was divided into two parts and the ‘old’ Varig continued operations under the Nordeste brand. However, financial difficulties persisted and eventually bankruptcy was declared in 2007, meaning the end of the Nordeste brand.

Fokker 50 with Nordeste

There is not much documentation on which routes Nordeste operated the F50. Their base was Salvador Bahia airport and F50s appeared at destinations all over the eastern half of Brazil like São Paulo-Congonhas, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Seguro, Recife, Belém, Ilhéus and Fortaleza. Even the island Fernando De Noronha in the Atlantic Ocean was served with F50.

Apart from the aircraft used for flight testing, Nordeste has operated a total of six F50s. Two were acquired new from Fokker in 1995, while the other four came over in 1999 from sister airline Rio-Sul. The two earliest ones carried a livery that was very similar to that of Rio-Sul, with three-tone blue diagonal bands on tail and engine cowlings. Around 1999 Nordeste adopted a new color scheme which clearly demonstrated the connection with Varig: dark blue tail with the iconic yellow compass rose and small Varig lettering below the large Nordeste titles on the fuselage. Nordeste F50s were equipped with 50 seats, of which 14 were reserved for smokers; that was normal in those days.

For the 1992 trial period PH-JXK (20233) sported the early-1990s corporate livery: the fuselage was white with dark blue titles and it had a dark blue tail with ‘NLA’ in white (NLA being the abbreviation of the official airline name). Apparently these colors were applied gradually, as photographs exist of this F50 with a white tail and titles. Finally, one of the ordered F50 that was not taken up was photographed with its pre-delivery test registration in a simple scheme of white with dark blue titles.

Nordeste Fokker fleet

Nordeste pictures

Nordeste’s first F50 PT-MNA (20298) was captured on its delivery flight in the full first color scheme. (scan from slide in author’s collection; photographer unknown, Faro, May 1995)

PT-SRA (20261) sports the second livery showing that Nordeste had become a member of the Varig group. (Carlos A. Morillo Doria; Ilhéus, 2002)

During the trial period of four months in 1992 PH-JXK (20233) carried two liveries. Presumably the white scheme with titles (insert) preceded the one with blue ‘NLA’ tail (Renato Salzinger; location unknown, 1992 and Martin Bernsmuller, São Paulo Congonhas, 1992, respectively)

PH-KXM was the pre-delivery factory registration of the F50 that should have become PT-OQC (20252). It was tested in a simple scheme with small Nordeste titles only (scan from slide in author’s collection; photographer unknown, Amsterdam, 1992)

Credits

• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordeste_Linhas_Aéreas_Regionais Accessed 27 February 2025.
• Wikipedia https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varig_Nordeste. Accessed 27 February 2025.
• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Sul_Serviçios_Aéreos_Regionais Accessed 27 February 2025.
• Robert Zwerdling. Nordeste o orgulho da Bahia. FLAP Internacional; 2003