GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (GOL) Reports June '09 Traffic Results

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July 6, 2009 9:31 AM EDT

GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (NYSE: GOL) announces its preliminary traffic figures for June 2009.

June 2009 reflected the beginning of activities related to the gradual and planned increase in the utilization of the Company's operational fleet, an important factor in diluting operating costs. This is taking place in a sustainable manner, given that the second half is seasonally characterized by higher demand than the first six months. In June, for the first time in 2009, the average number of hours during which GOL's fleet was operating (measured in block hours) was around 12 hours per day.

Thus, although the supply of total system seats (measured in ASK -- available seat kilometers) suffered an apparent reduction of 1.2% over May 2009, the daily average ASK (adjusted for the difference in days between the two months: 30 in June and 31 in May) moved up by 2%. In year-over-year terms, however, ASK fell by 4.9%, due to GOL's strategic repositioning -- in mid-2008, it discontinued flights between Brazil and all destinations outside South America.

In line with its focus on increasing the profitability of its route network, most supply was directed towards the domestic market, where ASK dipped by 0.7% between May and June (but moved up 2.6% in daily average terms) and climbed by 3% over June 2008.

Total system traffic (measured in RPK -- revenue passenger kilometers) increased by 0.8% over June 2008 and 9.3% over May 2009, the peak of the low season. International traffic recorded a similar month-over-month trajectory, moving up by 3.8%, but dropped by 44.6% year-over-year due to the elimination of the long-haul routes.

Consequently, GOL recorded a consolidated load factor of 63.8%, 1.6 percentage point down on the 65.4% registered in June 2008 and 5.8 percentage points above the 57.9% recorded in the previous month. The domestic load factor stood at 65.6% and the international one at 51.4%, both of which still below the same month last year and substantially higher than in May 2009.[SM]