American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) is negotiating a partnership with GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (G3, São Paulo Congonhas), having started talks with the Brazilian carrier on the same day when Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) announced its investment in LATAM Airlines Group, Brazilian economic newspaper Valor Econômico has reported.
The spokesperson of the American carrier confirmed to Reuters that it is "always looking for potential partners", while GOL itself declined to comment.
At this point, it is not clear what kind of a partnership the two airlines would like to pursue.
American Airlines and GOL were commercial partners until 2016, when the US carrier decided to pursue closer ties with LATAM instead. According to the ch-aviation PRO airlines module, GOL and American Airlines currently have no marketing or codeshare agreements.
Delta itself is in the process of selling its 9% stake in GOL after it announced its intention to buy a 20% stake in continental rival LATAM.
American Airlines is, on the other hand, a Oneworld partner with LATAM and was pursuing a JBA with the Latin American holding prior to the Delta-LATAM deal. While the two airlines secured approval for the JBA in a number of markets, including Brazil, they decided to exclude Chile from its scope after the local courts imposed strict conditions.
In terms of US-Brazilian partnerships, United Airlines also has a 8% stake in Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras.
For its part, American Airlines also said that it now expects to restart B737-8 flights beginning January 16, 2020.
"American expects to slowly phase in the MAX for commercial service [on January 16] and will increase flying on the aircraft throughout the month and into February," the carrier said in a press release.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, American Airlines has twenty-four grounded B737-8s and a further 75 units on order from Boeing. It also has firm orders for twenty-five B737-9s from the manufacturer.
United has cancelled all B737 MAX flights through January 6 and Southwest Airlines through January 5.
