Gol incentivises pilots to save fuel
I was gazing out of my window a few days ago when I saw a rather nice wisp of cloud floating around the top of Pão de Açúcar. I grabbed my camera and was taking a few snaps when a plane came flying through the shot – bonus!
A Gol flight passing Pão de Açúcar. If you look carefully you can just make out the contrails coming out the back.
Later on, when I transferred the images to my computer, I took a closer look at the plane and made out the airline: Gol.
Gol is a low-cost airline and Brazil’s second biggest carrier by market share. Times are tough for many airlines right now, with rising fuel prices really squeezing profit margins. Gol has been suffering more than most – according to Bloomberg, they lost 11 cents for every dollar of sales in 2012 (R$1.5 billion net loss for the year).
While some budget airlines have devised novel pricing scams schemes, Gol have come up with their own approach: use less fuel. Gol management have introduced a new scheme of bonuses for pilots and flight crews to incentivise fuel economy. Hmm, how does a pilot use less fuel?
The management approved methods to save fuel are:
- Avoid using reverse thrust (commonly used for more rapid deceleration during landing).
- Take more direct routes (avoid taking detours to avoid rough weather).
- Take a steeper approach to the runway when landing.
Scary stuff right? Those first two issues have been indicated as contributing factors in fatal crashes in 2007 and 2009 respectively. As for the last one, how do you feel about your pilot deciding to ‘drop in steep’ rather than taking a smoother, more gradual approach to the runway?
In January 2013, the Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC) announced that Gol came 57 out of 60 international airlines reviewed for their safety. I was about to finish this post with “Next time I’ll fly TAM”, but having looked a little more closely at that list, maybe I’ll insist on British Airways…
To be honest, I’m not actually one of those people who gets very freaked out about flying. Statistically it’s much safer than getting in a car or bus. But I’ve got a big problem with management people telling trained pilots how to fly. Has anyone out there flown with Gol? How did it go?
These Brazilian flight companies can’t do this. Safety first.
Seems like it is inviting trouble doesn’t it? Scary stuff…
Yes, it’s. There’re a lot of irregular practises here in Brazil like this one, in other areas, specially in the public services. People call it “The Brazilian way” or “Jeitinho Brasileiro” which is always wrong. It’s a dishonest way of solving problems.
Domestically within Brasil, I have flown only Avianca and Webjet. I do intend to avoid Gol though.
Hey Carlos! I’ve flown TAM a few times and they always seemed fine (even if the planes were a bit old). I was really surprised to see them even lower on the list than Gol.
Next thing you know Gol pilots will be providing their financial staff with tips on how to maximize accounting practices. Yep, this is the final straw in the Gritty-Gol relationship: we are no longer pals and my blog will refrain from endorsing your airline. And you have now officially joined the likes of flip-flops and marmite in my list of frowned upon.
Gol senior management: send your letters to Tom.
Ha ha! The legendary ‘Gritty Frowned Upon’ list – find your company on that list and it’s time to call in the bankruptcy lawyers… ;)
Some have even suggested that I just go ahead and call the list “Chapter 7” :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_7,_Title_11,_United_States_Code
So I’m officially not flying Gol into Santos D anymore ;)
It’s a great view on the approach, but you don’t want too good a view right? ;)
i think AZUL is the best in brazil. my second fav is tam.
I don’t think I’ve flown with Azul. But I agree, TAM seem pretty decent to me. Despite the safety rating, I’d happily fly with them again.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on the safety issues (both the concerns and the notion that flying is statistically very safe). As for the last item, I think Airbus (or was it Boeing) was suggesting that most planes in the future should use steeper landing and take off routes to reduce the carbon footprint or something like that. Goes to show you how the same news can have a very different connotation depending how it’s reported. Still, I prefer that kind of guideline coming from the engineering rather than the financial department.
Ha ha! Good point about the wording of a story. That transforms it from ‘reckless, money grabbing accountants telling pilots how to fly’ into ‘new, environmentally aware flying guidelines to reduce carbon emissions’!
I guess if they (flying experts) say it’s safe then I’m cool with it, but steeper landing approaches still sound a bit scary…
Proving that I didn’t just make it up:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19494538
Of course, it involves selling new planes so that one clearly came from Airbus’s finance department. ;)
The money-men are never far away! ;)
I flew Pittsburgh to Atlanta to Rio on Delta.
I had a Brazil airpass, so I flew via GOL everywhere in Brazil over the entire month of August 2011 which included eight take-offs and eight landings. I had not one problem except that nearly all my flights were a little late. The first was the worst (Rio to Aracajú) but that was because my flight from the U.S. had to fly around Rio for about an hour, due to fog, before landing. And every flight arriving in Rio was delayed and therefore the entire schedule was put back at least an hour. In some cases, early flights leaving Rio were delayed, and then short hops to nearby cities like São Paulo, were delayed returning. The incoming plane that I would take was nearly 2 hours late, so I arrived 2 hours late in Aracajú figuring the 3 people I expected to meet me would have gone home. But when I arrived, more than 20 friends and former students had been waiting for the entire two hours. These are people I had not seen and had lost touch with for 40 years —but there they were to greet me with whistles and clapping and even a videographer to welcome me back. Brazil has a lot to offer in the way of tourism and culture —but nothing beats the Brazilian people for warmth and hospitality.
This trip was before GOL decided to “save fuel.” One way they could save fuel without endangering people would be to offer fewer flights. Most were not filled. In several cases, I could stretch out on 2 or 3 seats. I liked the comfort of that and don’t enjoy being packed in like a sardine, but it does waste fuel to run half-empty planes. The reason I chose my airpass from GOL instead of TAM (which is no longer TAM) was because there were more choices of flights everywhere I wanted to go and the dates I wanted to travel between cities.
As for service –all the flight attendants were great —friendly, helpful and patient. (On my flight home from Brazil in 1969 on Pan Am, the flight attendant suggested I apply for a job because they needed English/Portuguese speakers. I didn’t think I could be as patient as she and others were —we had an extremely troublesome —very likely drunk —character on the flight. I wanted someone to tell him to shut up and sit down —and then punch him into submission.)
The GOL planes seemed to be in excellent condition.
I have only one complaint about air travel in Brazil. In airports and in planes, when announcements were made the Portuguese was so fast I couldn’t keep up (it had been 40 years since I was speaking it every day) and the English was so heavily accented that I couldn’t understand it either. I think they should record the most common messages with a native English speaker (adding live announcements when necessary) and slow down the Portuguese. They might even have common announcements printed and numbered on cards in the seat pockets —in a dozen languages. Then passengers could be directed to announcement number 12 to read what it says. I haven’t traveled elsewhere lately, but I would guess this is a problem worldwide.
Hi Carolina! I know the announcements can be a little hard to follow, but I’d be sad if they changed these ones: https://eatrio.net/2011/12/sexy-times-at-the-airport.html :)
“nothing beats the Brazilian people for warmth and hospitality.” – I couldn’t agree more!