Tag: Gol (Page 1 of 2)

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Orders 15 Boeing 737 MAX Jets

April 20, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

SEATTLE, April 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) today announced the aircraft lessor is growing its 737 MAX portfolio with an order for 15 737-8 jets. DAE had been investing in the 737 MAX by buying jets from existing customers and leasing them back to the carriers. The new order is DAE’s first direct 737 MAX purchase from Boeing as it modernizes its portfolio for better economic and environmental performance.

The order will appear on Boeing’s Orders and Deliveries website once finalized.

Firoz Tarapore, Chief Executive Officer of DAE, said: “We are delighted to deepen our already strong relationship with Boeing. Including this order, we own and manage 162 Boeing aircraft. An increasing number of global aviation regulators are returning the MAX to the skies. We are confident in the success of these aircraft as domestic and regional air travel are seeing strong signs of recovery.”

The new purchase is DAE’s second investment in the 737 MAX in the past year. In the third quarter of 2020, the lessor signed an agreement with American Airlines to purchase and lease back 18 new 737-8 airplanes. Since the agreement, the lessor has delivered 17 of the jets to the U.S. carrier. DAE previously completed a similar purchase-leaseback deal with Brazilian carrier GOL for five 737-8s.

“DAE has been instrumental in helping its customers realize the operating economics and environmental performance of the 737-8. We are delighted that they have come back to add more 737 aircraft to its growth plan as it positions itself for the recovery in commercial passenger traffic,” said Ihssane Mounir, Boeing senior vice president of Commercial Sales and Marketing. “We are honored by DAE’s trust in the 737 family and we look forward to partnering with them to serve the fleet requirements of airlines around the world.”

The 737-8 is a member of the 737 MAX family which is designed to offer more fuel efficiency, reliability and flexibility in the single-aisle market. The airplane can fly 3,550 nautical miles – about 600 miles farther than its predecessor – allowing airlines to offer new and more direct routes for passengers. Compared to the airplanes it replaces, the 737-8 also delivers superior efficiency, using 16% less fuel and significantly reducing CO₂ emissions and operating costs.

Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading provider of commercial airplanes, defense, space and security systems, and global services. As a top U.S. exporter, the company supports commercial and government customers in more than 150 countries, leveraging the talents of a global supplier base. Building on a legacy of aerospace leadership, Boeing continues to lead in technology and innovation, deliver for its customers and invest in its people and future growth.

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) Ltd. is a global aviation services company headquartered in Dubai. DAE serves over 170 airline customers in over 65 countries from its seven office locations in Dubai, Dublin, Amman, Singapore, Miami, New York and Seattle. DAE’s award-winning Aircraft Leasing division has an owned, managed, committed and mandated to manage fleet of approximately 425 Airbus, ATR and Boeing aircraft with a fleet value exceeding US$16 billion. DAE’s Engineering division serves customers in Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia from its state-of-the-art facility accommodating up to 15 wide and narrow body aircraft. It is authorized to work on 13 aircraft types and has regulatory approval from over 25 regulators globally. More information can be found on the company’s web site at www.dubaiaerospace.com.

Emirates Expanding Operations in Americas Due to Increased Passenger Demand

January 15, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Emirates has announced it will resume non-stop services to Seattle (from 1^st February), Dallas and San Francisco (from 2nd March), offering its customers seamless connectivity via Dubai to and from popular destinations in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

The addition of these three destinations will take Emirates’ North American network to 10 destinations following the resumption of services to Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Toronto and Washington DC.

Flights to/from San Francisco will operate four times weekly on Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER while flights to/from Seattle (operating four times weekly) and Dallas (three times weekly) will be operated with the two-class Boeing 777-200LR, offering 38 lie-flat seats in Business and 264 ergonomically designed seats in Economy class.

The airline will also be providing its customers more options and choice with additional flights to New York , Los Angeles and São Paulo. Effective 1st February, Emirates will be operating double daily flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and a daily flight to Los Angeles (LAX). Emirates customers also have seamless access to other US cities via the airline’s codeshare agreements with Jetblue and Alaskan Airlines.

In South America, Emirates will be introducing a fifth weekly flight to São Paulo (from February 5th), offering customers in Brazil even more travel options with greater access to its expanding network. Beyond São Paulo, Emirates customers can enjoy seamless connectivity and access to 24 other cities in Brazil via the airline’s codeshare partnership with GOL and its interline agreements with Azul and LATAM.

Emirates has safely and gradually restarted operations across its network and currently serves 114 destinations on six continents.

Since it safely resumed tourism activity in July, Dubai remains one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations, especially during the winter season. The city is open for international business and leisure visitors. From sun-soaked beaches and heritage activities to world class hospitality and leisure facilities, Dubai offers a variety of world-class experiences. It was one of the world’s first cities to obtain Safe Travels stamp from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) – which endorses Dubai’s comprehensive and effective measures to ensure guest health and safety.

Brazil’s Gol Shares Jump on American Codeshare Agreement

February 4, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

SAO PAULO, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Shares in Brazil’s Gol rose as much as 5.5% on Tuesday after the budget airline said it had signed a codeshare agreement with American Airlines.

“When this is approved by Brazilian and U.S. authorities, Gol’s new codeshare will allow its customers to connect to more than 30 destinations in the USA,” Gol said in a statement, adding that American will now offer more U.S.-South American flights than anyone else.

The flights will operate from Gol’s hubs in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Fortaleza, and will be added to current regular flights to Miami and Orlando.

Investors cheered the news, pushing Gol’s shares up as much as 5.5% to 36.25 reais, making it one of the biggest gainers on the Ibovespa. At midday in Sao Paulo trading, Gol shares were up 4.6% and the benchmark index was up 1.5%.

“The partnership will increase the quantity and quality of its flights, offering the more daily flights between South America and the United States than any other partner,” analysts at Guide Investimento said in a client note on Tuesday.

The agreement will make it easier for customers to purchase flights for both airlines using a single reservation. It will also integrate check-in, boarding and baggage checking throughout the trip, and include the air miles program.

(Reporting by Paula Laier Writing by Jamie McGeever Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Brazil’s GOL Sees 737 MAX Flying by April, Compensation Talks Ongoing

January 21, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL, which has 130 of Boeing’s grounded 737 MAX jets on order, expects to be flying the jet by April and hopes to secure a compensation deal within months, chief financial officer Richard Lark said on Monday.

“We at GOL are planning April” for the jet’s return to service, Lark told journalists. He said he expected to finalize a deal with Boeing within months that would “make investors whole” for losses associated with the delivery delays.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by David Evans)

FILE PHOTO: An employee works near a Boeing 737 Max aircraft at Boeing’s 737 Max production facility in Renton

Brazilian Airline GOL Says Delta Air Exits Stake

December 11, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

PRYCBK Delta airlines airplane preparing for landing in the blue sky at day time in international airport

Dec 11 (Reuters) – Brazil’s GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA said late Tuesday that Delta Air lines Inc has sold more than 32.9 million shares it held in the company, a few months after the Atlanta-based airline announced its decision to exit stake.

Delta’s decision to sell its stake was expected, following its acquisition of a 20% stake in GOL competitor LATAM Airlines Group SA for $1.9 billion in September.

Delta did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

The deal with LATAM Airlines was Delta’s largest since it merged with Northwest Airlines a decade ago, and ended the Chilean carrier’s ties with American Airlines Group.

Delta’s deal with Latin America’s largest carrier would give it a bigger footprint in the region, where American Airlines has been leading the charts.

American Airlines confirmed in October it was negotiating a possible partnership with GOL, after a newspaper reported that the two companies were in contact the same day that Delta bought its stake in LATAM.

The structure or content of any potential partnership was unclear, Brazil’s Valor Economico said at the time.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

GOL Announces Flights to Cabo Frio

June 12, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SAO PAULO, June 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. (“GOL” or “Company”), (NYSE: GOL and B3: GOLL4), Brazil’s premier domestic airline, announces the expansion of its flight operations to the city of Cabo Frio in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The new flights will begin in December 2019 from Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo. GOL will fly this new route with its Boeing 737-700 Next Generation aircraft, which carry up to 138 passengers, and will be the largest capacity aircraft to operate in the Cabo Frio airport.

“As GOL is the airline that popularized air transportation in Brazil, we are always looking for new opportunities to offer convenient and comfortable flights to destinations desired by our Customers. We will be the first airline to offer direct flights from São Paulo to Rio’s Lake Region, with high demand from tourists who travel to enjoy the areas’ beautiful beaches”, says Eduardo Bernardes, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

The launch will increase GOL’s destinations served to 77, with 62 in Brazil. Cabo Frio is the ninth regional destination announced by the Company this year. GOL’s new flights to the cities of Cascavel, Passo Fundo, Vitóriada Conquista, Sinop, Franca, Barretos, Araçatuba, Dourados and Cabo Frio are part of the Company’s plans to increase flights in the state of São Paulo, an initiative important for developing and incentivizing air travel in Brazil.

Investor Relations
ri@voegol.com.br
www.voegol.com.br/ir
+55 (11) 2128-4700

About GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A.

GOL serves more than 33 million passengers annually. With Brazil’s largest network, GOL offers customers more than 750 daily flights to 77 destinations in Brazil and in South America, the Caribbean and the United States.

Azul Says Rivals Blocked Carrier From Profitable Route

May 9, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SAO PAULO, May 9 (Reuters) – Brazilian airline Azul SA’s chief executive said on Thursday that its two larger competitors had barred the carrier from providing a competing air shuttle service on the highly profitable Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro route.

“Essentially what they did was they had a shutdown plan to keep us out,” CEO John Rodgerson told Reuters in an interview, referring to competitors Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes and LATAM Airlines Group.

The comments come weeks after Azul engineered a plan to break into the Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro route, by far the most transited in South America, but it fell apart after Gol and LATAM intervened.

The three airlines have been disputing the airport rights set to be left behind by their struggling competitor Avianca Brasil, which was scheduled to auction the routes this week as part of a bankruptcy process.

Azul, Brazil’s No. 3 airline, initially reached a deal with Avianca Brasil, but a few weeks later Gol and LATAM reached a different deal with Avianca Brasil’s key creditors, which was ultimately approved and sidelined Azul.

Both plans hinged on a successful Avianca Brasil bankruptcy auction, but the event was recently suspended indefinitely, meaning that even Gol and LATAM may not be able to get the airport rights they had agreed to buy.

“I don’t think they ever had the intention of closing on the deal,” Rodgerson said of Gol and LATAM’s agreement with Avianca Brasil.

Gol and LATAM have previously denied any anti-competitive stance.

Brazil’s antitrust regulator CADE said in April that it was concerned about a potential takeover by Brazil’s two major airlines, and that it preferred to see Azul or a new airline take over Avianca Brasil’s airport rights.

The rift also led Azul to leave Brazil’s airline industry group, known as ABEAR, late last month.

“I think the way they acted was inappropriate and not in the best interest of the industry,” Rodgerson said. “I don’t think we share the same values.”

Rodgerson gave the interview as part of Azul’s first quarter results announcement, in which higher operational costs weighed significantly, sending profits down 20% to 137.7 million reais ($35.06 million), despite significantly higher revenue compared to the same period last year.

While revenue grew 16% to 2.5 billion reais, personnel costs surged 37% amid continued expansion at the company, as well as the expiration of a payroll tax incentive.

“It’s kind of the new norm,” Rodgerson said.

Fuel costs also increased significantly, while other undisclosed costs jumped 34% to 224 million reais in the period.

Azul and its Brazilian competitors have faced higher costs in recent quarters due to the continued depreciation of the local currency, the real. While passengers buy their tickets in reais, many of the airline’s expenses, such as fuel, are denominated in the stronger U.S. dollar.

($1 = 3.9393 reais)

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; editing by Bernadette Baum and Bill Trott)

Brazil Airline Azul’s Profits Drop 20% on Higher Expenses

May 9, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SAO PAULO, May 9 (Reuters) – Higher operational costs weighed on Brazil’s No. 3 airline, Azul SA, sending profits in the first quarter down 20% to 137.7 million reais ($35.06 million), despite significantly higher revenue compared to the same period last year.

While revenue grew 16% to 2.5 billion reais, personnel costs surged 37% amid continued expansion at the company.

Fuel costs also increased significantly, while other undisclosed costs jumped 34% to 224 million reais in the period.

Earlier this year, Azul signed a tentative deal that ultimately fell through to take over a set of coveted domestic routes that were to be auctioned off by its rival Avianca Brasil, which is going through a bankruptcy protection process.

The routes were then set to go to its two larger competitors, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes and LATAM Airlines Group, dealing a blow to Azul as it had hoped to break into the lucrative Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro route.

That route is currently dominated by Gol and LATAM and is considered to be among the most profitable in the country.

At the last minute, a judge indefinitely suspended Avianca’s auction which was due earlier this week.

($1 = 3.9273 reais) (Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Brazil’s Gol Will Not Cancel Boeing 737 MAX Order

April 2, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: An aircraft of Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA departs from Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil September 11, 2017. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s largest airline, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, will not cancel its orders of Boeing Co’s 737 MAX plane, the model which was involved in two fatal crashes, newspaper Valor Economico reported Gol’s chief executive as saying on Tuesday.

“We will not cancel our orders,” CEO Paulo Kakinoff said. “The 737 MAX is probably the best airplane ever made.”

Gol is going through a significant fleet transformation and has bet heavily on the Boeing 737 MAX, with over 100 planes scheduled to be delivered in the next few years.

The airline has so far received seven aircraft, which it grounded after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in March, the second accident involving that plane model in a span of five months.

Kakinoff added that he thinks it is possible that the 737 MAX planes will fly again by July. That decision is in the hands of regulators around the world.

Gol has flown Boeing planes exclusively since its founding and is the U.S. planemaker’s largest client in Latin America.

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Susan Thomas)

GOL To Accelerate 737 MAX Fleet Renewal

December 10, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

SAO PAULO, Dec. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. (NYSE: GOL and B3: GOLL4), Brazil’s #1 airline, announced today an acceleration of its fleet renewal and modernization plan and the execution of operating lease agreements for 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft with Avolon.

Result of operational gains and favorable market conditions, GOL has accelerated its fleet renewal and modernization plan with operating leases of 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft to be received in the second half of 2019. GOL will maintain its capacity discipline, and the decision to accelerate its fleet renewal maintains the flexibility of GOL’s fleet plan. The accelerated fleet renewal will not alter GOL’s planned capacity, as the Company will simultaneously return and/or sell 737 Next Generation (NG) aircraft under operating and finance leases.

“We acquired the 737 MAX to make GOL’s operations even more efficient and to offer our passengers additional flights aboard new and even more modern and safe aircraft. The 737 MAX exceeds the expected performance on every count,” said Paulo Kakinoff, CEO of GOL. “We’ve been very impressed with the MAX’s superior range, fuel efficiency and reliability. By accelerating our fleet renewal plan to this new technology, we will be able to further reduce our costs and open up more international destinations for our customers.”

GOL launched operations with the 737 MAX 8 in July 2018 with impressive results. Compared to GOL’s 737-800 NG aircraft, the MAX 8 has decreased fuel consumption on GOL’s routes by approximately 15%. Additionally, the increased range of the 737 MAX 8 has allowed GOL to further diversify its route network and to begin operating flights to North America. In fact, GOL’s new Brasilia-Orlando route is the longest commercial 737 flight in history.

“GOL continues to be at the forefront of making air travel more accessible across Latin America. The airline is capitalizing the advantage of the MAX’s long range and unmatched efficiency to profitably open new routes and reduce operating costs,” said Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president of Commercial Sales & Marketing for The Boeing Company. “We are honored that GOL has experienced the many advantages of flying the MAX and selected to speed up deliveries to realize the benefits across their fleet.”

In addition to the four new international destinations already announced – Miami, Orlando, Quito and Cancun – the additional 737 MAX 8s will allow GOL to launch a new international destination every quarter over the next two years.

Onboard, GOL’s passengers will also enjoy the greater comfort and convenience provided by the Boeing Sky Interior, which includes: a spacious and welcoming cabin, dynamic LED lighting, and the largest and most accessible overhead bins in the market. The aircraft will also be equipped with Wi-Fi antennas, making it possible for passengers to access GOL’s complete on-board entertainment platform during flights.

GOL has an order for 135 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to be delivered through 2028 and is currently the largest 737 operator in Latin America and one of the largest in the world. The 737 MAX offers exceptional performance, with lower per-seat costs and an extended range to open new destinations. The 737 MAX incorporates the latest CFM International LEAP-1B engines, advanced technology winglets, Boeing Sky Interior, large flight deck displays and other features to deliver the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the market.

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