Gol to Add Caribbean Flights

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, Brazil’s second-largest airline, is adding routes to the Caribbean and smaller domestic cities while scaling back flights in the rest of South America as demand slows, Chief Executive Officer Constantino de Oliveira Jr. said.

“The flow between Brazil and South America had a noticeable reduction,” Oliveira said in an interview Wednesday in New York. “The Brazilian market is the biggest driver of growth in South America.”

Gol, based in Sao Paulo, will start flights next month to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and the islands of Curacao and Aruba in the Netherlands Antilles. The airline also plans to begin operations to the Brazilian cities of Bauru, about 187 miles west of Sao Paulo, as well as Aracatuba and Montes Claros.

Oliveira said Gol is reorganizing its routes after posting losses every quarter last year because of costs related to the takeover of Varig in March 2007, and the more than doubling of oil prices between the acquisition and July 2008.

Gol, which already dropped flights to Europe and North America, suspended its flights to Lima, the capital of Peru, and reduced the frequency of its flights to Santiago, Chile, he said.