The Brazilian airline GOL expects to heavily increase its Boeing 737 MAX fleet by adding ten new aircraft within the next five months. GOL expects to close the year by having a 33% share of its overall fleet composed of MAX 8 jetliners.

New MAX incoming

In the second quarter of 2022, GOL received three new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, increasing the share of this model to 24% of the total fleet. Moreover, the airline decided to accelerate its fleet renewal process and leverage the MAX advanced technology to reduce costs.

GOL is Boeing’s largest customer in South America, with 95 unfilled orders as of July 2022. The Brazilian carrier expects to receive ten new planes in the remainder of the year, allowing it to increase its share from 24% to 33%, GOL announced in its second-quarter financial results.

Maintaining the pace of fleet transformation will enable the company to end the year with 44 MAX 8 aircraft.

Celso Ferrer, GOL’s new CEO, said,

“We are confident that the increase in operating fleet utilization, which generated 27.5% productivity gains this quarter, combined with the fuel savings from the new generation 737 MAX aircraft, will enable us to expand our leadership in unit costs and maintain disciplined growth of our offer for the second half of the year.”

On June 30, GOL had 95 firm orders to acquire MAX aircraft, 70 for the 737 MAX 8 model and 25 for the MAX 10 model. The company’s fleet plan includes returning around 28 operational aircraft by the end of 2023, with the flexibility to return more or fewer aircraft if necessary.

A GOL Boeing 737 NG.
GOL is in the middle of a fleet renewal process. Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying.

Good-bye NGs

Additionally, GOL expects to return four Boeing 737 NG aircraft in the second half of 2022. The airline expects to end the year with 92 737 NG jetliners, of which three of them will be converted to dedicated freighter models and generate approximately 100 million reais (US$19 million) in incremental revenue. The first cargo aircraft will start operations at the end of August.

Earlier this year, GOL and Mercado Livre announced a new long-term agreement in which GOL will operate cargo flights for the e-commerce company.

The deal includes six GOL Boeing 737-800 aircraft, of which three will start operating in the second half of 2022. GOL and Mercado Livre will reduce delivery time on specific routes by up to 80% by launching these freight services.

The jetliners destined for the operation are currently in GOL’s fleet. They will undergo a conversion process to freighters, becoming B737-800BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter) aircraft.

A GOL Boeing 737 MAX aircraft
GOL has an unfilled order of 95 MAX aircraft with Boeing. Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying.

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GOL’s financial results

The Brazilian airline's net operating revenue reached 3.2 billion reais (around US$620 million), exceeding by 215% and 3% the amounts recorded in the second quarters of 2021 and 2019, respectively.

Despite having fully rebounded its operating revenue (without fully recovering the passenger numbers from 2019), GOL posted a 2.8 billion reais net loss (around US$541 million). The economic uncertainty and the increase in jet fuel prices deeply impacted the airline industry worldwide. For instance, fuel increased 285.1% between 2021’s and 2022’s second quarters.

Have you traveled onboard GOL’s Boeing 737 MAX aircraft? How was the experience? Let us know in the comments below.