Gol and Mercado Livre sign a 10-year agreement for delivery of orders

The airline Gol and the Mercado Livre marketplace announced this Tuesday (19) a 10-year partnership to deliver parcels across the country, especially in the North and Northeast regions.

The agreement marks Gol’s debut in the operation of cargo planes through its logistics unit, GolLog. The deal includes six Gol Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

With the partnership, Mercado Livre, leader in e-commerce in the country, intends to reduce the delivery time by up to 80% for longer routes, such as the North and Northeast, and by up to 50% for the Center-West. According to the company, delivery in the South and Southeast, regions of greater demand, will also be more agile.

“In the North and Northeast, the average delivery time reaches 9 days and should be reduced to 2. Many people may not want to buy online if the delivery time is too long, they prefer to go to a physical store. With this partnership, we will increase customer loyalty and, consequently, sales”, said Fernando Yunes, senior vice president of Mercado Livre in Brazil, during a press conference announcing the agreement.

Mercado Livre already operated with three exclusive aircraft, as a result of agreements with Sideral and Azul Cargo, which are still in effect. Now, with Gol’s six planes, it will quadruple its parcel delivery capacity in Brazil, from 10 million packages a year to 40 million packages.

For Gol, the initiative represents a significant advance in revenue: this year alone, the partnership will yield R$ 100 million for GolLog. “The expectation is that, within five years, the agreement represents an increase of R$ 1 billion in the company’s revenue”, said Paulo Kakinoff, president of Gol Linhas Aéreas, during the press conference. According to him, the companies were in negotiation for ten months.

Of the 6 aircraft that are part of the agreement, 3 will enter into operation in the second half of this year. Another 3 will begin flying exclusively to Mercado Livre by the third quarter of 2023. The partnership also considers the possibility of adding another 6 cargo aircraft by 2025.

According to Kakinoff, the initiative should generate savings of R$25 million this year and R$75 million in 2023. which is scheduled for December this year,” he said.

The agreement avoids the cost of returning these aircraft under the lease.

The flights will depart from São Paulo and a third of the fleet must serve the Southeast and South regions. The aircraft destined for the operation will undergo a process of conversion to freighters, being designated as 737-800 BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter), with a capacity to transport 24 tons. They will be identified with the color and logo of Mercado Livre.

The airline will directly hire 100 workers to serve the partnership with Mercado Livre, and generate another 90 indirect jobs.​

In a statement to the market, Gol informed that it is structuring itself to serve “the growing Brazilian ecommerce market, which currently accounts for more than BRL 180 billion in annual revenues, with an annual expenditure of more than BRL 12 billion on logistics services. “.

According to the company, “the allocation of the 6 aircraft exclusively for cargo operations opens a new chapter of efficiency in the reduction of Gol’s unit costs, since, combined with the acceleration in the transformation of the fleet to 737 MAX, it will allow greater dilution of fixed costs, reduction of the existing idleness and increase of new opportunities to generate ancillary income”.

Gol should end the year with 136 aircraft, of which 44 are Boeing 737-MAX 8 and 92 are Boeing 737-NG.