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Decades of transporting passengers by bus across Brazil, which is as big as the continental US, inspired the De Oliveira family to bring their customers to the next level - air travel. When their airline, Gol Linhas Aeras Inteligentes, took to the skies in January 2001, there were plenty of naysayer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:LatinFinance 2006-10, p.1
Main Author: Guthrie, Amy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Airlines
Corporate profiles
Family owned businesses
Manycountries
Strategic planning
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Decades of transporting passengers by bus across Brazil, which is as big as the continental US, inspired the De Oliveira family to bring their customers to the next level - air travel. When their airline, Gol Linhas Aeras Inteligentes, took to the skies in January 2001, there were plenty of naysayers. The Internet bubble had just burst, and Brazilian airlines were hitting heavy turbulence. At the time of Gol's launch, the family's privately held bus business was moving 460 million people a year, mostly on short hauls like urban commutes. Rather than viewing aviation as a niche beyond their reach, the De Oliveira clan saw it as a chance to democratize travel in Brazil. After putting in a few years at the family business, De Oliveira drafted a plan for a stripped down airline in the late-1990s. Then he raided the ranks of flailing Brazilian airline VASP to build an executive team with decades of experience in the sector. Today, Gol is an uber-transparent, NYSE listed company that transports 1.3 million passengers a month.
ISSN:1048-535X