BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)–Brazil’s second-largest airlines, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (GOLL4.BR, GOL) and state-owned Aerolineas Argentinas have signed a memorandum of understanding to implement a codeshare agreement.
The deal also calls for mutual mileage program benefits for customers of the two airlines, Gol said Wednesday.
In early July, Gol agreed to buy Brazil’s Webjet Linhas Aereas Economicas for 96 million Brazilian reais ($53 million), and taking on about BRL215 million in debt.
Together the two companies would control about 40% of the Brazilian airline market, just less than Gol’s main competitor in Brazil, Tam SA (TAMM4.BR, TAM), which has a 42% market share.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s Aerolineas is moving forward with plans to join the SkyTeam alliance whose members include Delta Airlines (DAL) and Air France-KLM (AFLYY, AF.FR).
Argentina’s government seized Aerolineas from Spanish tourism company Grupo Marsans in 2009, offering one peso in compensation for the carrier’s assets as well as taking on liabilities of about $1 billion. The government accused Marsans of running the company into the ground and failing to meet its investment obligations.
Aerolineas has invested heavily in updating its fleet since the government takeover, and now has 65 planes in operation, up from 23 in June 2008.
In August the company emerged from bankruptcy after a decade of court supervision. However, Aerolineas remains a big money loser. Its loss last year narrowed to $586 million from $943 million in 2009.
President Mariano Recalde recently said the company will miss its goal of reaching break-even this year, though he expects the carrier to turn a profit in 2012.
-By Shane Romig, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6738; shane.romig@dowjones.com