SAO PAULO -(Dow Jones)- Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (GOL, GOLL4.BR) has roughly six months to formalize new routes to the U.S. after Brazil's civil-aviation agency Anac granted the carrier 14 weekly flights to the North American country, Anac said Wednesday. Gol, through its subsidiary VRG Linhas Aereas, was granted 14 weekly flights to the U.S. and seven weekly flights to Venezuela earlier this month. The announcement was published Feb. 17 in the government gazette, and now Gol, which took over VRG in 2007, has 180 days from the publication of the announcement to tell Anac the origin, destination and time of the new flights, Anac said. Gol is Brazil's second-biggest carrier by market share, but offers almost no competition to rival TAM SA (TAM, TAMM4.BR, TAMSY) in international flights. TAM, which is in the process of merging with Chile's LAN Airlines SA (LFL, LAN.SN), last year accounted for 89% of international flights, while Gol carried 9.7% of international passengers. -By Paulo Winterstein and Rogerio Jelmayer, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-3544-7073; paulo.winterstein@dowjones.com
