GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (G3, São Paulo Congonhas) has signed a long-term cargo agreement with Mercado Livre to add at least six B737-800(BCF)s which it will operate exclusively on behalf of the Latin American e-commerce giant.

The Brazilian carrier said it expects to begin said flights during the second half of the year. The ten-year contract includes options for another five B737-800(BCF)s by 2025.

GOL said that the contract was a part of an expansion strategy for its logistics subsidiary GOLLOG, which hopes to increase capacity by 80% in 2023.

"Our cargo operation begins an exciting new chapter for GOL and GOLLOG, by integrating our synergies as the lowest cost operator in the region with the needs of Mercado Livre, the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America," GOL Chief Executive Paulo Kakinoff said.

The ch-aviation fleets module shows that GOL currently operates twenty-one B737-700s, eighty-nine B737-800s, and thirty-one B737-8s, all of them in passenger configuration. Kakinoff told ch-aviation the airline would convert its own B737-800s into freighters rather than source them externally.

It owns MAP Linhas Aéreas (7M, Manaus International), which operates a fleet of ATR - Avions de Transport Régional turboprops.

Mercado Libre set up its own air logistics platform, Meli Air, in late 2020. It currently charters four B737-400(F)s from Sideral Linhas Aéreas (SID, Curitiba International) in Brazil and three aircraft (two DC-9-30s and one B737-400(SF)) from Aeronaves TSM (VTM, Saltillo) in Mexico.