Even though it serves more people per year than Brazil’s flagship airline, LATAM Airlines Brasil, the country’s smaller GOL Linhas Aéreas had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2024 amid more than $3.8 billion in debt.
The airline’s problems were exacerbated by flights that could not be run while the carrier waited for delayed deliveries of Boeing planes.
At the end of 2024, the airline commonly referred to by the shortened name GOL announced a bankruptcy exit plan to convert $1.7 billion of debt into equity and raise $1.85 billion of new financing from investors.
Brazil’s GOL Linhas Aéreas recently filed for bankruptcy protection amid massive $3.8 billion debt.
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United Airlines, American Airlines and others are attempting to step in
According to a report first published by local Brazilian news outlet Valor Economico, the investors that have been in talks to pump significant funds into GOL include major airlines such as United Airlines (UAL) and American Airlines (AAL) in the U.S. as well as European carriers Air France-KLM (AFRAF) and Lufthansa (DLAKF) .
British Airways parent company International Consolidated Airlines Group (BABWF) is also reportedly among the potential investors.
Related: Another low-cost airline files Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan
Another potential way out of bankruptcy explored by GOL includes a merger with Brazilian rival carrier Azul (AZUL) .
A week before the report of the talks with major U.S. and European carriers leaked, GOL and Azul executives confirmed that such a merger was among the possibilities and that a combined Brazilian airline would make “a national champion” to take on flagship LATAM.
Gol Linhas Aéreas says it is working on restructuring
Neither GOL nor United, American, Air France-KLM or Lufthansa have commented publicly on the leak that they may be among the potential investors.
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“We are pleased to reach another important milestone in our financial restructuring process,” GOL CEO Celso Ferrer said in an update on bankruptcy emergence plan in May 2024. “Since the beginning of this process, GOL has continued to operate without interruptions, demonstrating solidity in executing our commercial strategy and cost management. We have successfully renegotiated agreements with our lessors for most of our aircraft and are investing in our engines and expanding our operational fleet.”
Over in the U.S., the most famous case of an airline currently continuing operations while trying to find a way to emerge from bankruptcy is the budget giant Spirit Airlines (SAVE) .
The airline spent most of 2024 reassuring travelers that a bankruptcy was not in the cards after a judge blocked it from getting acquired by JetBlue Airways (JBLU) but ultimately announced that it would need Chapter 11 protection in November of last year.
Smaller Floridian budget airline Silver Airways, which flew between East Coast cities and tropical destinations such as Key West, Tampa and Orlando in the U.S. and Nassau, St. Kitts, and Santo Domingo among others in the Caribbean, ended 2024 by also announcing that it filed for Chapter 11 protection on Dec. 30.
A week later, travelers with flights to Anguilla reported that their flights were canceled suddenly without explanation after the overseas British territory’s government revoked the airline’s permission to fly there over unpaid fees. This, in turn, prompted a rush of travelers having to pay spiked fares to get off the island with a competitor.
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