Brazil airline Gol posts $21.6 mln loss in 1st qtr

* Airline posts steeper-than-expected loss in quarter

* EBITDAR of 267.93 mln reais beats estimate in poll

SAO PAULO May 4 (Reuters) - Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aéreas posted a first-quarter net loss of 41.4 million reais ($21.6 million), versus a profit of 54.3 million reais a year earlier, according to a securities filing on Thursday.

The loss was steeper than the average 24 million real shortfall estimated by seven analysts in a Reuters poll.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rental leases, a gauge of operating profit known as EBITDAR, rose 8.9 percent from a year earlier to 267.93 million reais. The results beat the 251.7 million reais in EBITDAR forecast in the Reuters poll.