Two of Brazil’s largest airlines, Azul and Gol, announced a codeshare agreement that will come into force at the end of June and will only involve domestic routes where they fly alone.
The commercial cooperation was revealed late Thursday night, with the financial market already closed and should have an impact on shares today.
Under the agreement, the two carriers will also share their Azul Fidelidade and Smiles mileage programs. According to them, their customers will have access to more than 150 destinations combining the flight network of both.
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“This agreement will bring enormous benefits to our customers. Both companies have a history of developing aviation in Brazil, focused on excellence in customer service. With Azul’s highly connected network serving most cities in Brazil and the strong With GOL’s presence in the main Brazilian markets, our complementary offers will offer Customers the widest range of travel options,” said Abhi Shah, President of Azul.
“GOL and Azul have always been committed to expanding the Brazilian aviation market. This codeshare agreement will provide Customers with access to even more options for traveling around our country. GOL already offers more than 60 different commercial agreements with many airlines global partners and we are looking forward to expanding this benefit within Brazil as well,” said Celso Ferrer, CEO of GOL.
Gol has a more consolidated flight network in large airports while Azul has a wider network that includes regional flights. Also according to the two companies, more than 2,700 travel opportunities will be created with just one connection.
Merger between Azul and Abra Group?
The codeshare comes amid rumors that place Azul as a potential new partner in the Abra Group, created by the combination of Avianca, from Colombia, and Gol, controlled by the Constantino family, with extensive experience in land transport.
Since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a US court in January, Gol has been trying to renegotiate its debts with creditors, including lessors of almost its entire fleet of Boeing 737 jets.
Weeks ago, Azul confirmed that it planned to make an offer to take over its competitor, but so far this has not happened.
According to market reports, the most likely scenario places Azul as the new partner of Grupo Abra, but it is not clear what the shareholding division and leadership in the holding would be.
The codeshare between Azul and Gol is reminiscent of a similar agreement made between Latam and Azul itself, which began in August 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, but which ended in May 2021.
At the time, the airline founded by David Neeleman intended to acquire Latam, which was also under Chapter 11.
