AviationGeeks.com - TAM Airlines

TAM Airlines is the largest airline in Brazil and dominates the Brazilian market with over 50 percent market share in Brazil. TAM has 137 aircrafts, 24,500 employees and transports over 30 million passengers annually. 

Photo by Frederico Cavalcante 

Name: TAM Airlines

Owner: publicly traded

Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil

CEO: Líbano Barroso

Year founded: 1976

Stock symbol: TAM S.A.

Number of employees: 24,500

Major Hubs: Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo

Number of scheduled destinations: 61

Daily departures: 790

Main fleet: Airbus A320, A319, A330

Fleet size: 135 (77 on order)

Average age of fleet: 6.1 years

Alliance: Star Alliance

Frequent Flyer Program: TAM Fidelidade

Rolim Adolfo Amaro is usually given credit for founding the company in 1976. But, the history of the airline can be traced back to the launch of Taxi Aereo Marília in 1961. Taxi Aereo Marília was founded by 5 pilots with 4 Cessna 180 and 1 Cessna 170 to transport passengers and cargo between Paraná, São Paulo and Mato Grosso. In 1971, Taxi Aereo Marília was having financial problems so Orlando Ometto, who had bought the airline in 1964 called on former Taxi Aereo employee, Rolim Adolfo Amaro to assist the airline. Within a year, Amaro was able to turn the airline into profit.

In, 1976 TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais was formed as a joint venture between Taxi Aereo Marília and the government owned Viação Aérea São Paulo (VASP). TAM bought 4 Fokker F27 in addition it was required by the government to operate the Embraer Bandeirantes. In 1990, TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais merged with Brasil Central.

Hubs and Destinations

TAM Airline has 61 scheduled destinations and almost 800 daily departures. It has 3 main hubs and 8 focus cities that majority of its flight goes through. Those hubs are Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The focus airports are Congohas Airport, Eduardo Gomes International Airport, Florianópolis International Airport, Recife/Guararapes-Gilberto International Airport, Salgado Filho International Airport, Salvador International Airport, Santos Dumont Airport and Tancredo Neves International Airport.

Fleet

TAM Airline´s fleet consists mainly of Airbus 320 family with an average age of just 6.1 years. It has retired its fleet of McDonnell Douglas, Embraer and Fokker. The fleet consists of the following aircrafts:

Total:                                       136

TAM Airlines have the following aircrafts on order: