GOL Plans Salvador Hub, Schedules Further International Resumptions

GOL Linhas Aéreas is planning to increase its presence in the northeast Brazil with a new hub in Salvador and the relaunch of international service from Fortaleza.

The airline said it plans to make Salvador Bahia Airport (SSA) a new hub in 2023, vowing to increase in the number of flights within the state of Bahia, as well as to neighboring states, other regions of Brazil and international destinations.

Among the new domestic routes set to launch from Salvador this year are to Lençóis (LCE), Paulo Afonso (PAV) and Teixeira de Freitas (TXF). OAG data shows the airline currently serves 13 domestic destinations from SSA, offering more than 29,000 weekly departure seats.

To further enhance connectivity to and from Salvador, GOL has also expanded a codeshare agreement with Air Europa. The move will see GOL place its G3 code on the Spanish carrier’s flights to SSA from Madrid (MAD) once they resume from Dec. 21.

In addition, Air Europa will place its UX code on eight domestic services operated by GOL from Salvador. They include service to Recife (REC) and Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont (SDU).

Elsewhere, GOL has also confirmed that it plans to resume international flights from Fortaleza (FOR) later this month having suspended them during the pandemic. From Aug. 20, the airline will restart flying to Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP), operating once a week on Saturdays.

From Dec. 3, the carrier also intends to reinstate routes to AEP from other northeast Brazil airports including Salvador, Recife, Natal (NAT) and Maceió (MCZ). Frequencies on each of the four routes will be once a week.

GOL currently serves AEP from Florianopolis (FLN), Rio de Janeiro Galeao (GIG) and Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU), having restarted the routes in December 2021. Buenos Aires Aeroparque is one of 10 international destinations in the carrier’s network at the present time, alongside the likes of Cancun (CUN), Miami (MIA) and Orlando (MCO).