Gol Q3 Loss Deepens, Trims Fleet Plan

Gol cut its 2015 operational profit forecast to a loss and trimmed fleet plans after a weak Brazilian currency and slow demand triggered a heavy third-quarter loss.

Gol Linhas Aereas said it expects to post a loss before interest and taxes of 2 percent of revenue. Its previous target for the EBIT margin was positive 2-5 percent.

In the face of a sharp economic recession and rising imported fuel and aircraft costs, Gol decided to receive just four of the 15 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft originally scheduled between 2016 and 2017.

The airline is also reworking its network, adding new Latin American destinations such as Havana while cutting back service to Florida on a seasonal basis, after a steep currency drop put trips to the US out of reach of many Brazilians.

Chief executive Paulo Kakinoff said that Gol's international network would shrink 7-8 percent in the fourth quarter and it aims to reduce its domestic network by 1 percent in 2015.

Kakinoff added that the airline had also trimmed its executive ranks and would hold back on filling empty jobs due to natural turnover in its workforce.

Gol has not reported a quarterly profit since the end of 2011, hit by fierce competition, flagging demand and the cost-inflating effects of the Brazilian currency's 30 percent drop this year to all-time lows.

The company reported a net loss of BRR2.134 billion reais (USD$564.55 million) in the third quarter, from a BRR245 million loss a year earlier.

EBIT fell 94 percent to BRR9 million reais. The EBIT margin in the first nine months of the year fell to -1.2 percent from 4.6 percent in the same period of 2014.