Brazilians who wish to fly to Portugal officially have, since this Thursday, the 12th, one more airline to turn to: Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, through the voice of the company’s CEO, Celso Ferrer, announced Lisbon as one of the three new destinations, alongside Paris and Orlando. The flights, four per week from September 16th, depart from Rio Janeiro, Galeão airport, towards the Portuguese capital, Humberto Delgado airport.
At an event at Copacabana Palace, in Rio de Janeiro, the leader of Gol spoke “about conquering new frontiers, shortening distances, crossing oceans”. “25 years ago, Gol took off with a clear objective, to democratize flights, and now we are honored to make this announcement”, he continued.
“We emerged from a recovery process in 2025 stronger and more consistent, we have been the most punctual airline in Brazil for five consecutive years, recognition from Anac [Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil]”, said Ferrer. For the CEO, “Gol believes in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, with a 43% growth in tourism in the city, according to Embratur, we want Rio to be explored beyond the obvious”.
In November 2025, it was announced that the Brazilian airline had received authorization to make the connection between Brazil and Porto, during the summer of 2026. And, in January of this year, that NAV Portugal, the sector’s regulatory agency, had granted 42 periods for landings and 42 periods for takeoffs in Lisbon.
On the 6th, however, Gol announced the addition of five Airbus A330-900 aircraft to the fleet, a model with capacity for 300 seats and up to 15 hours of range, signaling a new diversification strategy for a company that, for 25 years, only operated with the Boeing 737 model.
On the same day, the company launched a new international hub at Tom Jobim International Airport, Galeão, in Rio, with the presence of the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho.
Until now, Gol operated mainly on domestic flights in Brazil and to some destinations in South America, the Caribbean and the United States.
Anyone who wanted to travel between Portugal and Brazil, without connections, would have to use the Brazilian LATAM Airlines or Azul Linhas Aéreas or the Portuguese TAP Air Portugal, which has its largest market outside Portugal in the South American country, with 15 routes connecting Lisbon and Porto to 14 Brazilian cities, if we already take into account Curitiba, in Paraná, whose flights should be operational later this year.
Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes was founded in 2000 by businessman Constantino de Oliveira Júnior and began commercial operations on January 15, 2001 with the proposal to operate in a low-cost model, something that was not yet widespread in the Brazilian market at that time.
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