CEO Interview
A better balance Paulo Kakinoff, CEO, GOL, explains that the airline has emerged from the crisis as a healthier airline, with the demand for air transport in Brazil recovering rapidly. INTERVIEW BY: GRAHAM NEWTON
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espite business travel still lagging behind leisure travel, the Brazilian low-cost airline is recovering after the global pandemic, with the aim of wanting to be the best airline to travel with, work for, and invest in.
22 Your last set of financial results were
encouraging. Are you on the road to recovery or do you still need to be cautious?
IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK/ISTOCK
There are many challenges until we return to the pre-pandemic pattern. We are cautious, but I believe there are reasons to be optimistic. Demand for air transport in Brazil is recovering rapidly due to the consistent drop in Covid-19 cases and fatalities and the rapid advance of vaccination in the country. We have more than 110 million Brazilians fully vaccinated (55% of the population). Our 3Q21 results highlight that we have maintained great discipline throughout 2021. The balance sheet is more sustainable and less leveraged than our competitors, having completed several relevant funding initiatives to ensure that the airline maintains sufficient liquidity levels to focus on recovery. What are the main lessons you have learned from the crisis?
Our focus on our people and our customers gained even more strength. At the beginning of the crisis, we told everyone that we were going to start crossing a desert, without knowing how large it was or what the temperature would be. But it was necessary for everyone to have a Airlines 2021 – 04
P22-25 CEO-GOL_Airlines 2021-04.indd 22
In 2022, we will be receiving around 16 new 737 MAX aircraft and so have 41 MAX aircraft in our fleet of 136 aircraft
single point of view, as we knew that this challenge—the biggest one we have ever faced—would also be overcome. During this period, the priority was to preserve the team and ensure our confidence in the end of the pandemic was never shaken. Now, with vaccination advancing and the teams being able to gradually resume their activities, we believe that we are leaving the desert behind. Additionally, we were one of the few firms in the region that were able to preserve liquidity. We adjusted capacity according to the level of demand as well and when that is combined with our determination to deal with all stakeholders in an equitable manner, we have overcome the pandemic with a better balance. airlines.iata.org
02/12/2021 16:00
