The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) determined that Gol and Azul airlines present, within 30 days after being notified, copy and details of the Commercial Cooperation Agreement (Codeshare) that the two companies announced in May 2024with the purpose of “connecting your aerial meshes”.

With the decision, Gol and Blue are prohibited from expanding joint routes until Cade gives the final word about the merit and any consequences of the agreement. If companies do not submit the details of the partnership to the board within the established deadline, they should suspend the agreement, respecting the rights of clients who have acquired airline tickets together.

The decision is the result of an act of concentration procedure that Cade instituted to assess whether the terms of the partnership would have to be analyzed and approved by the counselors who are part of the autarchy responsible for instructing the administrative processes of investigation of infringements to the economic order and acts of concentration.

The initial investigative procedure does not concern the merits of commercial cooperation and its effects, but only the need for companies to inform Cade about the strategy and contractual clauses. For the rapporteur of the case, counselor Carlos Jacques, Codeshare contracts do not have automatic exemption from competition analysis and should be evaluated individually.

In his vote, the counselor recovered the history of evaluation, from similar commercial cooperation agreements. Jacques also proposed some criteria to delimit the cases in which the board must act, such as those involving the participation of national airlines; Mesh overlap; Bilaterality of the agreement and effects equivalent to merger operations, especially with regard to coordination risks between competitors.

For the rapporteur, contracts involving domestic flights on domestic flights raise greater competitive concerns than those signed between international companies. Therefore, previous decisions, such as the one signed in the TAM/Qatar case, do not apply to the Gol/Blue case. The rapporteur’s vote was unanimously approved.

According to Gol, the partnership between the two companies initially includes the exclusive domestic routes, that is, those operated by only one of the two, as well as loyalty programs, to allow, by purchasing tickets for codeshare, customers accumulate points or miles in their choice.

The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) determined that Gol and Azul airlines present, within 30 days after being notified, copy and details of the Commercial Cooperation Agreement (Codeshare) that the two companies announced in May 2024with the purpose of “connecting your aerial meshes”.

With the decision, Gol and Blue are prohibited from expanding joint routes until Cade gives the final word about the merit and any consequences of the agreement. If companies do not submit the details of the partnership to the board within the established deadline, they should suspend the agreement, respecting the rights of clients who have acquired airline tickets together.

The decision is the result of an act of concentration procedure that Cade instituted to assess whether the terms of the partnership would have to be analyzed and approved by the counselors who are part of the autarchy responsible for instructing the administrative processes of investigation of infringements to the economic order and acts of concentration.

The initial investigative procedure does not concern the merits of commercial cooperation and its effects, but only the need for companies to inform Cade about the strategy and contractual clauses. For the rapporteur of the case, counselor Carlos Jacques, Codeshare contracts do not have automatic exemption from competition analysis and should be evaluated individually.

In his vote, the counselor recovered the history of evaluation, from similar commercial cooperation agreements. Jacques also proposed some criteria to delimit the cases in which the board must act, such as those involving the participation of national airlines; Mesh overlap; Bilaterality of the agreement and effects equivalent to merger operations, especially with regard to coordination risks between competitors.

For the rapporteur, contracts involving domestic flights on domestic flights raise greater competitive concerns than those signed between international companies. Therefore, previous decisions, such as the one signed in the TAM/Qatar case, do not apply to the Gol/Blue case. The rapporteur’s vote was unanimously approved.

According to Gol, the partnership between the two companies initially includes the exclusive domestic routes, that is, those operated by only one of the two, as well as loyalty programs, to allow, by purchasing tickets for codeshare, customers accumulate points or miles in their choice.