Editing Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (section)

===Purchase of Varig===
[[File:Varig Boeing 737-700 PR-VBU GIG 2010-5-30.png|thumb|[[Varig]] [[Boeing 737-700]]]]

On 28 March 2007, Gol officially purchased part of the assets of [[VARIG]] - VRG Linhas Aéreas, informally known as the "new Varig," a new company that owned the Varig brand, for US$320 million from Volo Group and [[MatlinPatterson|MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities]] [[private equity|hedge fund]]. At that time, the "old Varig" was under bankruptcy protection. Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA posted a first-quarter loss of 3.5 million Reais (2 million US dollars) after revenues of 1.6 billion Reais (one billion US dollars).

Gol announced that the Varig brand would continue [[d/b/a|doing business]] operating as such, rather than its official name VRG Linhas Aéreas.<ref>[http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070328/gol_varig.html?.v=3 Former Brazilian Flagship Airline Bought] 28 March 2007</ref> The transaction, via its GTI subsidiary, required a US$98 million cash payment, with the balance through the allocation of non-voting shares to [[VarigLog|VARIG Logística]] and Volo, which had acquired VARIG in June 2006 for US$24 million.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jackson Flores |date=3 April 2007 |title=Brazil's Gol nets ailing Varig successor |page=8 |work=Flight International}}</ref> The transaction did not involve the original airline, informally known as "old Varig," which continued to exist until its bankruptcy in mid-2010 under the name [[Flex Linhas Aéreas]].

In 2009, Gol was merged into VRG Linhas Aéreas. VRG Linhas Aéreas thus became an airline that operates two brands: Gol and Varig, although in reality flights are operated only under Gol flight numbers. Initially, the Varig brand operated to medium-haul scheduled and charter international destinations within South America and to the Caribbean with Boeing 737-700s configured in two classes, and to long-haul charter international destinations in North America, Europe and Africa with [[Boeing 767]]-300ERs configured in economy only. The latter was also used in [[Aircraft lease|wet-lease]] operations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Komatsu |first=Alberto |date=18 March 2010 |title=Varig vai a Europa e aos EUA com voo fretado |url=http://www.valoronline.com.br/?impresso/empresas/95/6163488/varig-vai-a-europa-e-aos-eua-com--voo-fretado |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723074951/http://www.valor.com.br/?impresso%2Fempresas%2F95%2F6163488%2Fvarig-vai-a-europa-e-aos-eua-com--voo-fretado |archive-date=23 July 2012 |access-date=18 March 2010 |publisher=Valor Online |language=pt }}</ref> This scheme was later dropped. The brand Gol operates most of the flights of the network and has aircraft configured in all-economy class, used for scheduled domestic and international operations within South America.

Because of contractual obligations, between 2006 and 2009 the "new Varig" (VRG Linhas Aéreas) was obliged to purchase a minimum of 140 hours/month of services from the "old Varig" (Flex Linhas Aéreas). Therefore, at that time, some of VRG Linhas Aéreas flights operated with Gol flight numbers but were actually flown with chartered aircraft from Flex Linhas Aéreas. The agreement ceased before the bankruptcy of Flex on 20 August 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Niemeyer |first=Felipe |date=20 August 2010 |title=Falência da Flex, Rio Sul e Nordeste: Trip deve assumir |url=http://www.panrotas.com.br/noticia-turismo/aviacao/falencia-da-flex-rio-sul-e-nordeste-trip-deve-assumir_60734.html |access-date=20 August 2010 |publisher=Panrotas |language=pt |archive-date=3 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303095206/http://www.panrotas.com.br/noticia-turismo/aviacao/falencia-da-flex-rio-sul-e-nordeste-trip-deve-assumir_60734.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>