Gol Transportes Aéreos

The airline was established in 2000 as GOL Transportes Aéreos S.A. and started operations on 15 January 2001 with a flight from Brasília to São Paulo. It is a subsidiary of the Brazilian conglomerate Grupo Áurea, based in Minas Gerais state, which has other transportation interests, including Brazil's largest long-distance bus company. Grupo Áurea in turn is owned by the Constantino family. Constantino Júnior was responsible for building the business next to the vice president of the company, David Barioni.

In 2007, GOL was owned by AeroPar Participações (75.5%), Venture (17.6%), American International Group (5.4%) and Air France-KLM (1.5%). The growth in GOL's stock price made the Constantino family a member of the Forbes magazine billionaire list in 2005.

In 2007, GOL was supposed to begin a code-share agreement with TAP Portugal, opening the European market to the Brazilian airline, and the internal Brazilian market to the Portuguese airline (the largest foreign airline in Brazil). Instead, TAP Portugal chose to cooperate with TAM Airlines.

On 24 February 2010, GOL announced it was in "advanced talks" to join the Oneworld alliance, which would allow it to catch up with rival TAM, a recent member of Star Alliance. However, on 6 October 2010, the airline announced a change in position by denying any interest in joining an alliance, preferring to remain independent and to establish a "patchwork of code-sharing agreements.". Following this trend, on 28 September 2011, GOL and Aerolíneas Argentinas announced the intention to implement a codeshare, feeder and frequent flyer programs agreement on a date yet to be announced and pending approval from the governments of Brazil and Argentina.

On 18 March 2010, GOL unveiled the expansion of its maintenance base located at Belo Horizonte/Confins - Tancredo Neves International Airport. Originally opened in 2006 with the capacity to service 60 aircraft per year (mainly Boeing 737 and 767), the expansion allowed GOL to increase the number to 120. GOL later started also using the base to service aircraft from other airlines, and as of 2013, it also serviced airplanes from Azul Brazilian Airlines and Copa Airlines.

On 23 December 2010, GOL Airlines started an operational partnership with Brazilian carrier Passaredo Linhas Aéreas. The agreement was rescinded on 31 July 2014, when Passaredo established a similar interline agreement with TAM Airlines instead.

On 7 December 2011, GOL announced the intention of Delta Air Lines to purchase 3% of its shares. The agreement also includes the creation of mutual code-share flights, alignment of frequent flyer benefits and transfer of GOL's Boeing 767s lease agreements to Delta.

On 1 October 2012, GOL confirmed a firm order of 60 Boeing 737 MAXs. References did not specify the type of MAX aircraft.

On 6 October 2012, GOL started seasonal operations at Miami and Orlando, which are available for Smiles account holders and originated in Brazil only. Technically, they are considered charter flights, although they are not necessarily part of an inclusive tour package; the use of miles or miles plus money is mandatory, as well as a minimum 7-day stay at the destination.

In February 2014, Air France–KLM announced it would invest $100 million in GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Some disagreement exists about whether GOL is a low-cost carrier. In 2014, GOL was ranked the second-best low-cost airline in South America after Azul. GOL refers to itself as a low-cost carrier, but it is increasingly not regarded as such. According to UFRJ specialist Elton Fernandes, "GOL's costs are not very different from those of TAM Airlines. People are accustomed to calling GOL low-cost, but GOL is not that. It is not even low-fare anymore.".

On 26 September 2019, Delta announced that it will exit its minority stake in GOL, following Delta acquiring 20% stake of LATAM Airlines Group.

On 11 May 2022, it was announced that GOL would merge with Avianca to form the Abra Group, which would own both companies.

Celso Ferrer became the CEO of the Brazilian airline 1 July 2022.

In March 2023, GOL reduced frequencies in Fortaleza as well as cancelled the Fortaleza airline's hub.

In January 2024, GOL prepared to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, 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% or 27% at Ibovespa. On 24 January 2024, GOL sought US$950 million in financing to fund itself during its bankruptcy procedures. On 25 January 2024, GOL declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York to bounce back from high debt costs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the bankruptcy procedure, GOL continued to operate. GOL declared more than US$8.3 billion in debt as well as a summe of more than R$40 billion. Following, Fitch, S&P and Moody downgraded GOL's rating, GOL lied and owes more than R$1.1 billion to the Air Force and admitted it did not paid air navigation fees in Brazil and GOL (GOLL4) studied measures against LATAM for trying to take over planes.