Brazil’s second and third largest airlines are working toward a merger, which would see them potentially become the biggest airline in the country (well, sort of).
Continue reading: Azul & GOL Want To Merge, Form Brazilian Mega-Airline
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Azul is the Brazilian Jetblue with the better service. Gol isn't. Azul is also better managed than Gol.
Hopefully this is Azul taking over Gol, and not the other way around.
Also Ben, I thing you forgot to mention two things:
1) President Lula loves his national champions. There will no regulatory barrier in Brasil.
2) Oneworld, or Star Alliance?
Why Oneworld? AFKL have a stake in Gol and they derive a huge amount of connecting business from them, and LATAM are still more or less partnering with IB as well as DL/VS.
Since Avianca Brazil went bust, that group hasn't had any hubs in the Southern Cone. As Azul don't have any continental flights to Colombia , Venezuela or even anywhere west of ASU, BOG-GRU/GIG is something like 7 hours, and Avianca don't fly to places like Belo Horizonte or FLN, the networks are pretty complementary and Star Alliance would also likely bring them more passengers than an alliance with no hubs south of MIA.
(That's obviously not to say they couldn't have individual partnerships with AA, AC, EK or whatever)
GOL owns the rights to the Varig brand. Great opportunity to bring it back for a Azul-GOL merged airline.
Since Gol is currently in chapter 11 reorganization, all equity is likely to be wiped out as part of the restructuring. Airlines may choose to reinvest, but current equity arrangements are not likely to survive. of course, Gol can maintain other non-equity partnerships
I'm not au fait with the c.11 arrangements but I think that, with or without equity, the strong link between Gol and AFKL is likely to remain in place because it does drive a lot of traffic. LATAM has its own flights to Europe and long-standing partnerships with various airlines there- they don't seem very keen on joining Skyteam. Equally DL won't want Gol/Azul in the alliance, so *A is probably the best choice if the merger goes ahead.
Avianca flew BOG to Belo Horizonte (CNF) for much of 2023 and 2024 but recently canceled the route. 6 hours in the very tight rows was my worst flight in a long time.
Gol actually flies CNF to Buenos Aires (EZE) to BOG and back twice a week on a single flight number. Struck me as odd that a Brazilian carrier flew BOG-EZE until I learned it was the same owner as Avianca.
Investments in GOL ?
- $100 million by AF, in 2016
- $200 million by AA in 2021/22 (5.2% of total mkt cap).
I have flown both and both were acceptable and somewhat similar. Alliance Membership would be a huge step up and I would prefer ONEWORLD over STAR. AA has an investment in GOL and more than likely another OW Carrier like Qatar or IAG could seek investing into the carriers. OW lost out when LATAM bolted in the arms of DL prior to BK but I question why all the other OW carriers continue to codeshare with LATAM. DL will never focus on South America like AA does with their MIA and DFW Gateways. I also like the idea of resurrecting the VARIG name just so the baggage doesn't come with it. IAG is rumored to be looking at acquiring a stake in TAP and the Brazil Market would be a key addition for OW.
I'm not convinced that any merger of this scale benefits consumers. Have any of the major mergers in the USA over the last 15-20 years yielded any consumer benefits?
Not really like how GOL is completely shut out of the board, leadership, everything it seems. What would this so to existing partners like AA? I would hope that the new combined airline would join OneWorld....but if Abra has the reins, probably not?
Did you ever read the article? He clearly mentions they could join one of those networks.
Did you ever read the article? He clearly mentions that AZUL & it's owner get 2/3rds of the board AND the CEO position. Pretty obvious that AZUL is the big player here.