American Airlines, GOL Airlines expand their alliance

American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States, and GOL Airlines, headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, have expanded their alliance by signing a new codes-share agreement.

Under the new deal, American Airlines, a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and headquartered next to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, will place its ‘AA’ code on GOL Airlines’ network of flights within Brazil.

Now, American Airlines will be able to sell seats on GOL Airlines as if they were American Airlines’ flights, a statement from American Airlines said.

In short, passengers who book a ticket on American Airlines will be able to fly on a plane of GOL Airlines within Brazil.

The expanded code-share agreement will be executed once the necessary approvals are received from the governments of the United States and of Brazil.

In addition, American Airlines and GOL Airlines are expanding their pact related to frequent-flier programmes.

Since August 2009, members of the AAdvantage programme (of American Airlines) and the ‘Smiles’ (the customer relationship programme of GOL Airlines) have been able to accrue frequent-flier mileage credit on both carriers.

As per the new agreement, from early 2010, members of the AAdvantage programme can redeem travel awards on GOL Airlines.

American Airlines at present operates 58 weekly non-stop services to 5 cities in Brazil – Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Recife, Salvador, and Belo Horizonte – from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, Miami International Airport, and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, in the United States.

American Airlines, a founding member of the Oneworld alliance, is the biggest United States-based airline that flies to Brazil.

GOL Airlines, one of the largest airlines in South America, operates about 800 daily flights to 49 destinations in Brazil. It also flies to 10 cities elsewhere in South America as well as the Caribbean.

Gerard Arpey, chairman and CEO of American Airlines, said in the statement that the expansion of the alliance with GOL Airlines will result in adding “significant value” for American Airlines’ customers.

According to AMR Corporation, American Airlines, American Eagle and AmericanConnection operate services to 250 cities in 40 countries, with over 3,400 daily flights, on an average. The combined fleet strength of the 3 carriers comes to over 900 aircraft.

GOL Airlines (or, Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A.) is the biggest low-cost airline in Latin America. It claims to operate a young, modern fleet of Boeing 737 Next-Generation aircraft.  Its ‘Smiles’ customer relationship programme has over 6 million participants, and it is available in about 200 countries.