Aircraft that marks partnership between Gol and Mercado Livre begins flying in September to the Northeast

Delivery time for products to the region will drop from five to one day

Four months after announcing a partnership focused on logistics, the Free market and the Gol Linhas Aéreas presented this Tuesday the first cargo aircraft with colors and the Mercado Livre logo. The plane, a Boeing 737 800, will have the capacity to carry 24 tons of cargo and starts operating on September 1.

Fortaleza, in Ceará, São Luís, in Maranhão and Teresina, in Piauí, will be the first cities to receive flights from the partnership. The initiative is part of the R$ 17 billion investment package that Mercado Livre announced for this year in Brazil.

Currently, the delivery time for products by road, for example, to Recife takes between four and five days. For Manaus, the period varies between eight and nine days. With the entry into operation of the freighter, delivery will be made in one day. The plane will operate daily. It will be the same delivery time as those who buy goods in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, said Yunes.

By the end of the year, two more freighters will be delivered and in 2023, another three planes. As a result, the supply of cargo capacity on the Free Market will be increased by 80% in tons. The expectation is that Mercado Livre’s revenue will increase by R$ 100 million this year and more than R$ 1 billion in the next five years.

The president of Gol, Celso Ferrer, said that the partnership will revolutionize the delivery market in the country.

– Mercado Livre has the same proposal as us, which is to give access to products quickly – said Ferrer, during the presentation of the aircraft, noting that Gol will be the first airline to operate the freighter manufactured by Boeing in Brazil and the Latin America.

The aircraft delivered was a passenger plane that was converted into a freighter at Boeing workshops in China. The others will also go through this process to become 737 800 BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter). The agreement has the option to add six more aircraft of this type by 2025.

Currently, Mercado Livre already has three aircraft, operated by Azul, which serve other regions of the country far from distribution centers. This partnership will continue. Mercado Livre also operates an exclusive partnership for cargo transportation in Mexico.

The aircraft will be operated by Gol’s logistics arm, GolLog, which operates cargo services to 52 airports and more than 3,900 destinations in Brazil.

The contract between the companies has a duration of 10 years, and provides for a fleet of freighters consisting of the Boeing 737-800 BCF

Source: O Globo Agency