Gol slashes April capacity as Brazilian Covid-19 cases rise

Gol will operate 50 aircraft in April, down from 63 the previous month, in response to reduced demand for air travel as Brazil battles rising Covid-19 infection rates. However, the airline is confident that as the country’s vaccination programme rolls out, demand for leisure and business travel will start to “reactivate” from the middle of the second quarter. In its latest monthly investor update, Gol says that searches for its airline tickets fell by a quarter in March, compared with the previous month, while the volume of daily ticket sales was down 40%. It attributes this to the increase in Covid-19 cases across Brazil and the transition to the low season. Pointing to Brazil’s immunisation programme, Gol says it is forecast that all priority groups and individuals over the age of 60 will have received a vaccine by the end of the second quarter, with the remainder of the population set to be immunised during the second half of this year. “The company anticipates that the successful rollout of vaccinations through Brazil’s national immunisation programme will reactivate demand in the leisure and corporate segments as of the middle of the second quarter of 2021,” says Gol.<br/>