Archive for the 'Gol' Category

Air France-KLM and Gol Expand Partnership

Published
by
Dan Webb
on February 2, 2010
in Air France, Gol and KLM
. 0 Comments

Last week, Air France-KLM announced an expansion of their still-new partnership with Brazilian LCC  Gol. Last April, the airlines announced that passengers would be able to earn frequent flier miles on each others’ flights, and codesharing with Air France would begin.

Air France originally announced that by the middle of last year, it would be codehsaring with Gol to thirteen Brazilian destinations. That’s a bit behind schedule – right now there are only six destinations (Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, Curitiba, Salvador and Vitória), though the airline says that “seven other destinations will be added soon…pending government approvals.” KLM and Gol have now entered into a codesharing agreement for some Brazilian destinations, though the company news release does not specify which. The deal also includes service to Buenos Aires. Connections will be made possible with AF-KLM’s 31 flights to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro from Paris and Amsterdam.

AF-KLM calls Brazil “a key market.” Christian Herzog, SVP Americas for the group says that the deal “demonstrates once again our willingness to develop our position in Brazil. It offers our customers travelling to and from Brazil a larger choice of destinations and schedules, which reflects our group’s strategy: to ensure the best possible services between Europe and the rest of the world.”

Personally, I think that this is a great move for both carriers. Gol has a limited international reach with it’s all-737 fleet, so getting feed from Air France and KLM provides a nice boost to its current route network. Meanwhile, this is a good competitive move for Air France-KLM, as currently SkyTeam does not have any South American members, and Gol can increase service to not only Brazil, but other parts of the continent as the codeshare to Bueneo Aires demonstrates. British Airways and Iberia have noted that they have a dominant position when it comes to South American service, so this deal is one way that AF-KLM can respond. It should be noted, however, that Iberia and Gol announced a codesharing partnership back in October.

On another note, it’s interesting to see AF-KLM partner with LCCs – it has an agreement with WestJet as well. It’s just interesting to see traditional network carriers align themselves with the LCCs. JetBlue and Lufthansa is another example.

Iberia, Gol Sign Codeshare Agreement

Published
by
Dan Webb
on October 22, 2009
in Gol and Iberia
. 0 Comments

On Monday, Iberia announced that it had signed a codeshare agreement with Brazilian carrier Gol, subject to government approval.

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Photo credit: Chris Weyer. Used with permission.

Iberia currently flies from Madrid to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and according to a news release will be able to “add its code to Gol flights from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to 13 Brazilian destinations: Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Fortaleza, Foz do Iguaçu, Goiania, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador de Bahia and Vitoria.”

The airlines are also considering an arrangements for passengers to earn points on each others flights.

This move makes sense as TAM is joining the Star Alliance next year, so it’s good for Iberia to have a partner in this region. Of course, one could also wonder if Gol would ever be interested in joining Oneworld.