How smarter network planning is guiding GOL’s strategy
March 13, 2026
Airport infrastructure in South America has improved dramatically in recent years, but constrained geography and rapid urban growth have left little room for the continent’s major hubs to expand.
GOL’s network planners are having to grapple with the fact that many of Latin America’s biggest cities have no secondary or tertiary airports, as many European, Asian and North American conurbations have, to absorb low-cost growth.
Network planning at Brazil’s low-cost carrier GOL
Speaking to Aerospace Global News at Routes Americas 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Bruno Balan, network planning manager at Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (GOL), said that São Paulo, Rio and Buenos Aires are surrounded by densely built‑up neighbourhoods, limiting space for extra runways or terminals.
Despite this, airlines are under pressure to keep fares affordable while operating in the most expensive, constrained airspace on the continent.
“Airport infrastructure in Latin America as a whole has developed significantly over the last few decades, with more investment and new concessions,” he said.
“Today, the main constraints are at high-demand airports in big cities. If you look at São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, we have airports that sit within the city limits, right in the middle of the urban area. There is no room to grow – you cannot build a third or fourth runway or significantly expand terminals.
“In those cases, a substantial part of our network is constrained by these airports. They operate under very clear rules, guided by IATA, on how slots are used and what conditions airlines must comply with to operate there.”
Tackling congestion at South America’s biggest hubs
Among the continent’s main international airports, São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport is an IATA Level 3 airport, which is the highest congestion level, meaning “an airport where demand significantly exceeds the airport capability”.
In Brazil, there are a total of three Level 3 airports, and GOL operates at all of them, with both of São Paulo’s airports being the most important to the carrier.
GOL has around 45% market share at Congonhas, about 20–25% at Guarulhos International, and around 40% at Rio Santos Dumont.
That said, GOL is going for growth. The carrier recently announced plans to being long-haul services to New York from Rio using Airbus A330neos.
This is a departure from its all Boeing 737 family fleet. While the A330 will enable it to serve long-haul routes, the MAX variant has enabled it to stretch its route map in recent years.
“We see many opportunities to use our 737 MAX fleet, which provides about 6,000 kilometers of range, to fly non-stop from Brazil to the Caribbean islands –≠ destinations such as Punta Cana and Aruba – and up to Florida,” Balan said.
“We operate Miami–Brasília, Miami to the North and Northeast of Brazil, and Orlando–Brasília, which all support connectivity, linking new origins and destinations and opening new routes for Brazil as a whole.”
Achieving connectivity across Brazil
For GOL, the key is providing connectivity across the entirety of its home country.
“Our main bases are the pillars that sustain our connectivity. A customer in the countryside of Brazil can fly to one of these four places and connect to other capitals or smaller cities, giving us national coverage,” he explained.
“These pillars also drive our international growth. Almost all of our international capacity departs from one of these four stations to Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States. Regional Brazil is important to feed these trunk Brazilian markets, which in turn feed trunk Latin American markets.”
For example, on routes such as São Paulo–Buenos Aires or Rio–Buenos Aires, around 50–60% of GOL’s customers are local, but another 30–40 cities are feeding those flights.
The carrier generates a significant feed from Brazilian domestic passengers, whether they start in small cities or big cities, into Latin America or other domestic destinations.
Making the most of airline partnerships
GOL also keeps a sharp focus on what its partners are doing. It has close ties with Air France-KLM, American Airlines and Avianca, which shares a parent group in Abra.
“When we look at how our partners influence our network planning, we always try to complement what they are offering,” Balan continued.
For instance, in Bogotá, Avianca already flies from Bogota to São Paulo with four daily flights, to Rio de Janeiro and to Manaus in the north of Brazil, but they do not fly to one of GOL’s main hubs, Brasília.
“We decided that it is a better fit for us to operate Brasília–Bogotá because, in that specific market, we can feed the flight from many other points in Brazil that Avianca wants to serve,” Balan noted.
“We can then bring those customers to Bogotá. When we analyse the point of sale of those customers, they are mainly Brazilian, so we understand that, for that passenger profile, GOL is a better fit as a brand and as a product to cater for Brazilian demand to Bogotá.
“At the same time, because we are flying into Avianca’s hub in Bogotá, customers can also connect onwards to Cartagena, Barranquilla, Cancún, Mexico City and other destinations.
“When we build the network around partners, we are always trying to complement their services and use their feed to strengthen ours.”
Balan concluded: “All of this also feeds into how we decide where and how to develop a new route. I all adds up in our decision-making – choosing the right times of day, the right flight banks, and how we connect domestic and international flows to make a route work.”
Featured image: Adobe
