Gol

Is Gol safe?

Yes. Gol, Brazil's biggest low-cost airline, has had one fatal accident since it started flying in 2001, and its own crew was not to blame. On 29 September 2006 a business jet flying at the wrong altitude, with its transponder accidentally switched off, struck Gol flight 1907 over the Amazon. All 154 people on the 737 died. Gol has not lost an aircraft since. We score it 78; points go mainly for the 2006 crash, a run of runway excursionsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary and tail strikesTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary, and a fleet that is not fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary.

What happened on Gol flight 1907?

The 737-800 was flying from Manaus to Brasília at 37,000 feet, as cleared. Coming the other way on the same airway, at the same height, was a new Embraer Legacy 600 business jet on its delivery flight to the US. Its flight plan called for a lower level after Brasília, but the controllers never told the crew to descend, and its transponder had been switched off by mistake. Without a transponder signal, the collision-avoidance systems on both aircraft were blind.

The Legacy's winglet sliced into the 737's left wing. The business jet made an emergency landing at a military airfield; the 737 broke up and crashed into the jungle. Brazil's investigators (CENIPA) blamed the Legacy pilots' poor planning and missed transponder warning, and controllers who gave an incomplete clearance and never told the jet to descend. Brazil's air traffic control is run by the Air Force.

Who regulates Gol?

Gol is certified by Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC). Brazil is in FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary, and Gol is an IATA member, which requires the IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit. CENIPA, an Air Force body, investigates accidents and serious incidents and publishes reports on a public panel, so Brazil's incident record is unusually visible. A long list on that panel says more about Brazilian transparency than about Gol in particular.

Recent incidents

None has hurt anyone, but several are on runways, the main risk for a short-haul airline:

• Recife, February 2022. A 737-800 veered off the right edge of runway 18 on landing at night, knocking out edge lights, then got back onto the runway. CENIPA's final report, released in August 2026, cited rain that reduced the crew's view in the last moments.
• Rio-Galeão, February 2025. A 737 MAX 8 with 109 people on board hit a maintenance car that was on the runway during its takeoff run. The crew stopped the aircraft; both the jet and the car were badly damaged.
• Congonhas, São Paulo, 30 April 2026. A Gol 737-800 arriving from Salvador was on final approach to runway 17R when an Azul E195-E2, which had waited about 50 seconds after its take-off clearance, began to roll. The tower cancelled the take-off and sent the 737 around, but the Embraer took off anyway, apparently already off the tower frequency. ADS-B data show the two aircraft about 200 feet and 0.18 nm apart. The Gol crew reported a collision-avoidance (TCAS) alert and landed safely about 15 minutes later. CENIPA is investigating.
• Salvador, May 2026. A 737-800 freighter with only crew aboard overran the end of the runway by about 45 metres after landing in rain.
• Tail strikesTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary on landing at João Pessoa (November 2023) and Recife (March 2024), and on takeoff at Belém (July 2024).

Bankruptcy and fleet

Gol filed for Chapter 11 in New York on 25 January 2024 and came out on 6 June 2025, now controlled by Abra Group, which also owns Avianca. Flights went on throughout. Part of the fleet was parked during the restructuring; under a fleet recovery program Gol aimed to have every aircraft flying again by the end of March 2026.

At the end of 2025 it flew 146 Boeing 737s: 59 MAX 8s, 66 737-800s, 12 737-700s and nine freighters. The last published average age was 10.4 years, at the end of 2023. A single type keeps training simple, but the 737 is an older design than the Airbus jets LATAM flies.

How to fly Gol safely

Many Gol flights use Congonhas and Santos Dumont, city airports with short runways, and Brazil's summer storms arrive fast in the afternoon. If your crew diverts or goes around in heavy rain, that is the system working. Keep your belt fastened whenever you are seated, and on the short domestic hops where the cabin crew are barely out of their seats, follow their instructions quickly.

How we scored it

The accident record (82) reflects one fatal crash 20 years ago for which Gol was not at fault. Oversight (82) is sound. The fleet (76) and serious incidents (70) are the weaker parts: runway excursionsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary and tail strikesTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary keep recurring, even without injuries. The April 2026 near collision at Congonhas does not lower the incidents score: the Gol crew followed the tower's go-around instruction, and CENIPA has not yet published findings.