New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) is known as the top international airport in the United States. According to the Department of Transportation, in the 12 months leading up to November 2025, JFK served 34 million international passengers. This was significantly higher than Los Angeles, the second-busiest international airport, which served 11 million fewer passengers.
JFK accounted for more than one-eighth of all international passengers in the country, with almost 23 million of those passengers traveling long-haul. This means that JFK was responsible for nearly one-fifth of the country’s long-haul air traffic. Starting in July, travelers will have another airline to choose from when flying to and from JFK.
Brazilian carrier GOL has confirmed its first flights to JFK, which was previously reported a few days ago. The airline will offer three weekly flights from Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport, which is the airline’s third busiest airport in terms of flights. The flights will operate on an Airbus A330-200 leased from Wamos Air, with plans to switch to leased A330neos in the future. The schedule shows that the aircraft will remain on the ground in the US for about 16 hours, with overnight flights in both directions to help fill premium seats.
GOL previously used Boeing 767 aircraft, primarily between São Paulo/Rio and Buenos Aires. Despite initial reports, the Rio-JFK route will not be GOL’s first long-haul service. The airline currently operates flights from Brazil to the US on 737 MAX 8 aircraft, which cover a distance of 3,283 nautical miles (6,080 km) and have a flight time of up to 8 hours and 15 minutes. However, the new route to JFK will be GOL’s longest flight to date, with upcoming European flights expected to surpass it.
Once GOL begins operating the Rio-JFK route, it will be the first Brazilian airline to do so since LATAM pulled out in 2017. This will benefit the airline in terms of the Brazilian market, as data shows that approximately 60% of passengers book their flights from Brazil. With GOL’s arrival, there will now be three airlines operating nonstop flights between Rio and JFK for the first time. However, the local market is not particularly large, especially for three airlines, as the majority of passengers will likely be flying point-to-point. Data shows that 95,000 round-trip local passengers traveled between the two airports last year. While JFK was Rio’s second-busiest US market, New York City was the top destination. GOL will also capture passengers traveling to other destinations via Rio.
According to Cirium Diio data, between December 2024 and November 2025, JFK saw long-haul flights operated by over 55 airlines.