US court accepts part of Gol's request, which accuses Latam of trying to take over planes and pilots

The United States Court partially accepted the request in which Gol makes demands against Latam, the main competitor in the Brazilian airline market. On Friday, the 9th, the Brazilian airline accused Latam of “predatory action” to obtain aircraft, pilots and lessors (companies that lease the aircraft, such as banks and finance companies).

The allegation was presented to the Bankruptcy Court of Southern New York, the same one in which Gol filed for judicial recovery in January. The information was published by the newspaper Economic value and confirmed by Estadão.

In the decision, the judge authorized the “discovery” process, which means that Latam will have to provide explanations and present the letters sent to the lessors. It also ordered three executives from the Chilean airline to give testimony for a total of five hours, but it has not yet been defined who will be interviewed.

Gol had asked for more statements than the three. Among the people requested for clarification were Jerome Cadier (president of Latam Brasil), Roberto Alvo (global president of Latam), Ramiro Alfonsin (financial director of Latam) and Sebastian Acuto (vice-president of Fleet and Projects).

All depositions will be confidential, and only lawyers for both parties will have access.

Gol filed for judicial recovery in the United States on January 26th. Since then, according to the airline, it became aware that Latam was trying to acquire its lessors, planes and pilots, through contacts with commercial partners in which “it distorts Gol's financial capacity”.

In its communication with the Court, Gol attached an email from Sebastian Acuto, sent on January 26th to lessors, in which the executive reinforces that Latam continues “looking for aircraft” and that the Brazilian affiliate “is in the market in a normal and will strive to increase the supply of flights in the country and the region”.

In the message, Latam states that it wants to purchase between 20 and 25 aircraft, with immediate availability, of the Airbus A-320, Airbus A-321, or Boeing 737 models.

Gol cites the publication of job vacancies for pilots, registered on January 29, in which Latam states that it is looking for professionals to work in Brazil and that having a license to fly with Airbus and Boeing aircraft, including the 737 model, is a differentiator .

He also attached an interview with Jerome Cadier, CEO of Latam, to the newspaper Folha de S.Pauloin which Cadier says that Latam could put stopped Gol planes to fly and that any other airline would try to do the same.

Gol reports that, at the moment, it only operates Boeing 737 model planes, while Latam flies mainly with those from the manufacturer Airbus on short routes, and with Boeing 787, 777 and 767 models for long trips.

Thus, for Gol, the only explanation for Latam's conduct would be that it “expected to take advantage of Gol”.

To the EstadãoGol stated that it was satisfied with the decision, which will allow the competitor's actions to be clarified, in addition to identifying whether they “fail to comply with US bankruptcy law and legal protections relating to the company's assets”.

Latam stated that it does not have additional information about the case at the moment and forwarded a previously sent note, in which it says that it is always in contact with “relevant interested parties in fleet matters” and that it has been active in the market for several months with a view to “ ensure the necessary capacity to meet ongoing and long-term needs, in a context of global supply chain challenges and shortages of aircraft or engines.”