Brazil’s GOL Linhas Aéreas is set to restore international connectivity from Navegantes International Airport (NVT) for the first time in almost five years as the airline further expands its Argentina network.
The carrier plans to link the Navegantes, a coastal city in Brazil’s southern Santa Catarina state, with Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires. Seasonal flights from NVT to Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) will be offered five times per week using 176-seat Boeing 737 aircraft from Jan. 3, 2024, reducing to 3X-weekly from Feb. 18 through March 30.
Navegantes has been without international operations since April 2019 when Azul Airlines ended its year-round flights to EZE after 17 months, data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows.
GOL’s route will therefore become the first international route to be secured by NVT since CCR Aeroportos took over the concession for the airport in 2021. CCR has since announced plans to invest BRL300 million ($62 million) toward expanding the airport, with work to include a new 129,167-ft.2 (12,000-m2) terminal and expansion of the runway from 5,577 ft. (1,700 m) to 5,905 ft, (1,800 m).
“CCR Aeroportos fulfills its purpose, as an airport operator, to improve the infrastructure and develop the destinations at the airports where it operates,” CCR Senior Airline Business Manager Graziella Delicato says. “A partnership with GOL [offers] the Argentine tourists the possibility of getting faster to the coast of Santa Catarina.”
GOL operates 13 routes between Brazil and Argentina at present, serving EZE from four points and offering a further six routes to Buenos Aires Aeroparque J. Newbery. The airline also flies to Mendoza and Rosario from Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport, and to Cordoba from Rio de Janeiro Galeao International Airport.