Macroeconomic pressure continues to plague Gol’s profitability as losses become the norm

Despite strides made by Brazilian carrier Gol in cost containment and yield growth during 2Q2013, the now-familiar woes of a sluggish Brazilian economy and currency devaluation continued to weaken the airline's overall financial performance as the company recorded a BRL433 million (USD187 million) loss for the quarter.

It is an improvement over the BRL715 million (USD309 million) Gol bled during 2Q2012, and even as Brazil's currency has weakened since 1Q2013 Gol maintains that it will still post a positive operating margin in the low single digits for 2013. This would result from structural changes it has undertaken during the last year - namely dramatic cuts in its domestic capacity. But it is growing increasingly doubtful if Gol can reverse annual losses it has posted during the last two years during 2013 as its 1H2013 losses were BRL508 million (USD219 million), and no signs of an upturn in the Brazilian economy have surfaced for 2014.