GOL Airlines has announced that it will not resume flights to Chile and Peru after both destinations were set to return to its network this year. GOL Airlines is set to end flights to Cancun, Mexico, in late September. This is likely due to the increasing popularity of other tourist destinations in the area.
GOL keeps Chile and Peru suspended
According to Aviationline, GOL originally planned to restart flights to Lima Jorge Chavez International Airport on March 29th, followed by a return to Santiago Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport. However, the airline has since cancelled these plans.
As quoted by Melhores Destinos, GOL said,
GOL has announced that it will not resume flights between Guarulhos (GRU) and Santiago (SCL) in Chile, and will not resume flights between Guarulhos (GRU) and Lima (LIM) in Peru, from the end of March 2023. GOL says it will not resume flights between these two airports for the short and medium term.
Before the pandemic, the Brazilian airline served Lima and Santiago on a daily basis from their São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). It also served Rio de Janeiro from four airports: São Paulo (13x weekly), Rio de Janeiro (4x weekly), Recife (1x weekly), and Porto Alegre (1x weekly). The airline has not stated why it will not restart either route, but it will provide support for passengers who have booked flights to either destination.
Lima and Santiago connections
Despite GOL scrapping its plans to open a Lima hub, Brazilian connections to Lima will still be available through LATAM – the South American carrier currently serves Peru’s capital city from Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre with 28 weekly flights. Latin America’s largest airline, LATAM, is adding a fourth daily flight to Brasília International Airport (BSB) on March 26th, taking the total number of weekly flights to 35.
Santiago has a number of connections to Brazil with multiple airlines, including LATAM, JetSMART, and Sky Airline. Additionally, it has connections to a wider range of airports, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, and Foz do Iguaçu.
Gradual international recovery
GOL Airlines has been rebuilding its international network in recent months, with new destinations in Argentina, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Suriname, the US, and Uruguay. The airline recently restarted Buenos Aires flights in December after almost three years away and has announced that its return to Johannesburg will now happen in September, not July as initially planned.
The Brazilian airline has removed one destination from its international network, but this is not related to the recent cancellations of the 737 MAX. GOL has discontinued one of its longest 737 MAX routes, from Brasilia to Cancun. The means came in as the world’s third-longest for the MAX & stop on February 4th.
