According to information circulating on the Internet, a new airline, Gol Dominicana will start operations in June 2013 with two planes of seven planned for the Dominican subsidiary of the low-cost Brazilian airline. The new routes will have Santo Domingo’s Las Americas International Airport (SDQ) as the point of origin and will serve Cancun (CUN), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU), in addition to codeshare flights with Delta to Atlanta (ATL) and New York City (JFK). There will also be new routes opened from SDQ to Brazil’s capital, Brasilia (BSB) and other cities in Brazil, as reported on the flyertalk.com airline forum.
As reported, Gol, which sold a 3% stake in itself to Delta Air Lines (DAL) at the end of last year, plans to make the most of that partnership in overseas flights. Gol Chief Executive Paulo Kakinoff has already announced that the Brazilian carrier plans to set up a hub in the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, from which it plans to operate flights to other locations in North America.
Gol can also fly its passengers to Delta’s hub in Atlanta or offer Gol passengers connections on Delta flights out of Santo Domingo to other international locations, Valor has said.
The new flights are part of Gol’s effort to increase the share of revenue it gets from international flights, which stands at 8% currently, Valor has said.
In December 2012, Gol began flying from Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, to Miami and Orlando with a stopover in Santo Domingo. The airline joins American Airlines in offering Santo Domingo connections to Miami and Orlando routes.
The airline has said it will add New York and Atlanta using a codeshare with Delta from Santo Domingo, and also new routes to Cancun, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Gol is a member of the Smiles Alliance between Air France, Delta, KLM, and Qatar Airways.
On Wednesday, 3 April, Senate President Reinaldo Pared Perez defended the Senate approval of changes in the Civil Aviation Law in the Dominican Republic saying that it paved the way for the Brazilian low-cost airline, Gol to establish an international hub in the country. Pared Perez said that the hub would operate the same way as Copa, which has its hub in Panama.
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