TAM Airlines, the leading domestic and second largest international carrier in Brazil, has started a new service to the U.S. with four flights a week on the route Rio – São Paulo – New York. The inaugural flight happened Thursday, November 10.
Also, TAM has a code share agreement with American Airlines to operate São Paulo – New York City nonstop three times a week, on behalf of both partners. TAM will be operating the Airbus A330-200s aircraft on the route.
New York City will be TAM’s second North American and tenth international destination. TAM already serves Miami, Paris, Buenos Aires, Santiago and, through its subsidiary TAM Mercosur, Asuncion, Montevideo, Ciudad del Este, Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba.
The Brazilian air carrier says that servicing New York City is an opportunity for TAM to deliver its top quality products to the US Northeastern market. The code share agreement with American Airlines provides comfortable connecting services to and from the destinations already served by TAM in the US.
TAM Airlines has been the leader in the Brazilian domestic market for two years since beating bankruptcy-afflicted Varig and it had a 43.8% market share as of October 2005.
TAM operates regular flights to 44 destinations throughout Brazil, serves 72 different cities in the domestic market through regional alliances and offers flights to five international destinations: Miami (USA), New York (USA), Paris (France), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Santiago (Chile).
Through TAM Mercosur (TAM’s subsidiary), it also serves Asuncion, Montevideo, Ciudad del Este, Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba.
TAM was the first Brazilian airline company to launch a loyalty program. Currently, the program has 2.9 million subscribers and has awarded more than 3 million tickets.
TAM Airlines – www.tam.com.br