Brazil's low-cost airline Gol said Thursday it reduced its flights between Chile and Brazil to seven from 16 a week, as the global recession and the H1N1 flu have hit demand.

Gol Linhas Aereas said in a news release it was suspending weekend Santiago-Sao Paulo flights run by its Varig unit and also its daily Santiago-Porto Alegre flights.

Gol said it will maintain one flight a day between Chile's capital and Sao Paulo, with a stop in Buenos Aires.

Sao Paulo-based Gol has also seen a sharp drop in passengers to Argentina, the main foreign destination for the airline, as Brazilians shied away from traveling to Argentina because of warnings about the H1N1 flu virus.

Both Chile and Argentina have had outbreaks of the flu that intensified in the Southern Hemisphere winter in July.

Over the past months Gol has cut flights to European and North American and other South American destinations, but 90 percent of its revenue comes from domestic routes.