Brazilian airlines company GOL Linhas Aereas posted a $416 million net loss in 2020 as an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to media reports. In 2020, the airlines saw a 54 percent decline in the number of passengers they carried.
In 2020, GOL Linhas flew only 16.7 million passengers, compared to 36.4 million in 2019. This, in turn, resulted in a 55.8 percent decrease in the passenger operating revenues during the year.
Even though Brazil is on its way to recover from the pandemic, the Brazilian market still has a long way to go to recover from the Covid-19 crisis, and that is having a negative impact on the carrier.
During the first half of 2020, GOL registered operating revenues worth $511 million. It is a 25.9 percent decrease compared to 2020’s first semester and a 59 percent decrease against 2019’s January to June. At the beginning of 2021, the airlines’ total passengers numbered nearly 7.5 million. Compared to 2020, the number is 17.3 percent less.
During the latter half of 2020, the airlines carried out 52,459 departures and operated an active fleet of 65 aircraft out of 127 units. The airlines wrapped up the first half of 2021 with potential liquidity of $985 million. It can be easily observed that GOL ended its first half of 2021 was quite rough.
Even then, the airline remains optimistic and confident about its future. On a positive note, the airlines managed to contain a cash burn and it has also repaid $1.18 billion in debt since the beginning of 2020. GOL was one of the few carriers in the world to do so.
Richard Lark, GOL’s CEO told the media, “Now that the worst portion of the crisis is behind us, we see several promising perspectives ahead. The company has navigated through the worst possible circumstances, and we are more than strong. We didn’t lose the opportunity to enhance our successful business model further. Now we are even leaner than we were before; we are more efficient.”