Smiles S.A. is a Brazilian company which manages Smiles

loyalty program A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and ...

, the former frequent-flyer program of

Varig VARIG (acronym for Viação Aérea RIo-Grandense, ''Rio Grandean Airways'') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline, and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went ...

, a Brazilian carrier, now switched to GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A.

History

Varig launched its frequent-flyer program in 1994, as the biggest airline in Brazil and in 1997 started to use a

co-branding Co-branding is a marketing strategy that involves strategic alliance of multiple brand names jointly used on a single product or service. Co-branding is an arrangement that associates a single product or service with more than one brand name, ...

strategy with

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

issuers. As Varig's economical conditions became desperate in the early 2000s, the company has been split in two, the "new" Varig with most of the airplanes, routes, and the mileage program, and the "old" one, mainly with the debts. The resulting new company was initially sold to VarigLog, its former air cargo subsidiary. As GOL took over Varig's operations, they decided to absorb the Smiles program, aiming its later conversion for an independent business unit. After the successful

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

of Multiplus, the loyalty program from GOL's competitor,

TAM Linhas Aéreas LATAM Airlines Brasil, formerly TAM Linhas Aéreas, is the Brazilian brand of LATAM Airlines Group and one of the largest airlines in the country. According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), between January and December 201 ...

(now part of

LATAM Airlines Group LATAM Airlines Group S.A. is an airline holding company headquartered in Santiago, Chile. It is considered the largest airline company in Latin America with subsidiaries in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. The company filed for ...

), GOL decided to split that business from the airline and go public, which has been carried in April 2013. In January 2024, Smiles' owner Gol announced that it would be preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by no later than February 2024, stating that the airline has been struggling with high debt and recently hired Seabury Capital to help it in a broad capital structure review. As a result, the company's shares tumbled as much as 13%. On 24 January 2024, Gol sought $950 million in financing in order to fund itself during its bankruptcy procedures. On 25 January 2024, Gol declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York in an effort to bounce back from high debt costs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the bankruptcy procedure, Gol will continue to operate while it is currently seeking approval of a creditor-repayment plan.

Benefit sharing

On July 6, 2010,

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along w ...

announced an agreement to redeem Smiles mileage for

SkyMiles SkyMiles is the frequent-flyer program of Delta Air Lines that offers points (or "miles") to passengers traveling on most fare types, as well as to consumers who utilize Delta co-branded credit cards, which accumulate towards free awards such as ai ...

benefits and vice versa. Such announcement was tied to a

codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

between the airlines. Smiles's mileage can also be redeemed for

Air France–KLM Air France–KLM S.A., also known as Air France–KLM Group, is a Franco-Dutch airline holding company incorporated under French law with its headquarters at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Tremblay-en-France, near Paris. The group has offices in ...

, Korean Air, Aeromexico, Tap Portugal, Aerolineas Argentinas, Copa Airlines, Etihad Airways, Alitalia, Air Canada and

Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. ( ar, القطرية, ''al-Qaṭariya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke netwo ...

flights. However, as of early 2020, Delta and GOL have ended their partnership and the subsequent sharing of benefits between the two airlines.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. website
Companies listed on B3 (stock exchange) Gol Transportes Aéreos Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024