The number of passengers transported by the airline in 2010 will rise to as many as 36.5 million and average occupancy rate will be near 70 percent, the company said in a regulatory filing yesterday.

The airline ended the month of January with an occupancy rate of 78 percent, up from 69 percent a year earlier. The statistics “confirm that Gol’s earnings trend should improve” in the first half of the year, wrote Banco Santander SA analyst Caio Dias in a Feb. 8 note to clients.

Gol expects Brazil’s economy to grow 5 percent to 6 percent this year. Economists surveyed by the country’s central bank estimate Latin America’s biggest economy to expand 5.5 percent, according to a report published Feb. 22.

The airline plans to add three aircraft to its fleet by the end of 2010, taking their numbers to 111.

Gol fell 1.9 percent to 23.80 reais in Sao Paulo trading yesterday, compared with a loss of 0.5 percent for the Bovespa index. The shares have lost 8.7 percent this year.