The Gol airlinethe largest in Brazil for domestic flights, announced this Thursday that it voluntarily accepted the chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy lawa formula that allows a company that cannot pay its debts to restructure without pressure from creditors.
“The company will use the United States mechanism to strengthen its financial position,” Gol reported in a statement sent to the market.
The company clarified that while negotiating a refinancing for debts will continue to offer its services air Transport in a “secure, reliable and uninterrupted manner”, and that all operations continue normally, as well as the validity of your tickets and reservations.
The airline He said that his intention is to use the US justice system as a mediator in a process to raise capital, restructure its finances and strengthen long-term business operations.
This is the same instrument used in 2020 by the Latam airlinewhich dominates Brazil’s international flight market, to overcome the serious crisis it suffered as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
The same chapter was successfully used by other international airlines hit by the pandemic such as United Airlines, Delta, Aeroméxico and Avianca Colombia.
Gol needs to restructure a debt that, according to the latest balance sheet disclosed, amounted to 20.2 billion reais (about 4.122 million dollars) as of September of last year.
To start the process, the airline said that it already has a financing commitment for 950 million dollars offered by members of the Ad Hoc Group of the owners of securities of Abra, the conglomerate that controls the Brazilian airline and the Colombian Avianca.
Since this financing depends on the New York Justice Court accepting your request to benefit from bankruptcy law, Goal announced that it will attempt to release the resources in the first hearing it will attend before the US courts, scheduled for the coming days.
“The financing is conditional on court approval and, together with the resources generated by ongoing operations, will provide substantial liquidity to support operations, which continue normally during the restructuring process,” according to the statement.
The CEO of the airlineCelso Ferrer, in statements cited in the statement, stated that The company has already managed to improve its profits and its financial position, so the restructuring process “will allow it to definitively address the challenges generated by the pandemic.”
According to the executive, despite the challenges and the lower availability of aircraft, the company obtained one of the best operational results for an airline in Latin America in the third quarter of last year.
It was the fourth consecutive quarter in which the company obtained “high and consistent operating margins”, as well as record gross revenues of 4.7 billion reais, 16.4 percent higher than those of the third quarter of 2022.
In another statement subsequently sent to the market, the company announced the resignation of Richard Lark and Joaquim Constantino Neto from the board of directors, who will be replaced by Timothy Robert Coleman and Paul Stewart Aronzon.
The position of vice president of the council, which was held by Joaquim Constantino Neto, will now go to Ricardo Constantino, another of the sons of the nonagenarian transport businessman Nenê Constantino, founder of the airline.