Gol, Avianca parent prefers tie-ups over capacity wars, CFO says

American Airlines

19/10/2026 21:24

By Kylie Madry
MEXICO CITY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The parent holding of Brazilian airline Gol GOLL54.SA and Colombia's Avianca would rather expand through partnerships than flood markets with new aircraft, its finance chief said on Monday, with the Latin American airline group navigating high fuel and borrowing costs. 
"We could have decided to put in 50 planes (and flood) the market. It didn't make sense," CFO Manuel Irarrazaval said, referring to Abra Group's preference for deals such as its tie-up with Chilean carrier Sky rather than organic expansion into new markets.
"With fuel going up... and with interest rates going up, you need scale," he said at the Latin American & Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) annual forum
He said Abra's strategy depended on building a broader network across the region and combining domestic and international operations, arguing that a pure low-cost model no longer worked well in Latin America
"You need to offer cheap seats in the back, you need to also offer business class, you need to offer domestic connections, and you need to offer local," he said
He pointed to Rio de Janeiro as an increasingly important long-haul hub within the group's network, saying the company was already offering business-class service to New York and Buenos Aires
The executive added that access to widebody aircraft remained a key part of the group's strategy as it balances domestic and international exposure
He added Abra was placing importance on future widebody fleet planning, including orders for Airbus A350s and A330s, as part of its longer-term international strategy
Abra has previously announced plans to go public, though it gave no timetable and said any deal would depend on market conditions

 (Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Fernando Cardoso)
 ((Kylie.Madry@thomsonreuters.com;))