While once pride of Brazil Varig is in the throes of death TAM S.A. Brazil’s largest airline company, has just announced it will start a daily flight to London as of October 28, landing at Heathrow’s airport, the main entrance to the United Kingdom.
The frequency will be offered prime time, ensuring greater comfort and convenience to passengers, mainly to business travelers.
It will depart from Guarulhos airport, in São Paulo, at night, arriving in Heathrow in the afternoon. The return will also be at night, landing in São Paulo in the early morning. Such a schedule will allow immediate connections not only to TAM’s large domestic network, but also to other locations from London.
The authorization for TAM to operate the seven weekly frequencies between Brazil and London was granted by the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) in April and this week the Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), authority responsible for slots allocation in the United Kingdom, released the slots to Heathrow airport.
The new flight will be operated by the modern Airbus A330-200, with three classes (Economic, Executive and First). This will be TAM’s second destination in Europe, as the company already offers two daily flights to Paris.
In the international segment, TAM operates daily frequencies in its direct flight to New York, currently departing from Galeão International Airport, in Rio de Janeiro, with a stop in Guarulhos airport and landing in Terminal 4 of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) Airport.
The company has also started a daily flight connecting Manaus to Miami. The flight departs from Fortaleza, with a stop in Belém and Manaus, and enables a connection with the Brasília hub. With this new line, TAM starts flying directly to Miami three times a day, twice from Guarulhos and, now, once from Manaus. Weekly, one of the flights departing from Guarulhos stops in Salvador.
In South America, TAM operates six direct frequencies to Buenos Aires, Argentina, departing from five major airports in Brazil, and one weekly flight to Santiago, Chile.
TAM Mercosur flies to six other destinations: Asuncion and Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), Montevideo and Punta del Este (Uruguay), and Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba (Bolivia). The company also has a daily flight to Lima, Peru, through a code-share operation with Taca.
TAM has been a leader in the Brazilian domestic market for more than two years, and had a 45.6% market share at the end of May 2006.
TAM operates regular flights to 46 destinations throughout Brazil. It serves 71 different cities in the domestic market through regional alliances. Additionally, it maintains code-share agreements with international airline companies that allow passengers to travel to a large number of destinations throughout the world.
TAM was the first Brazilian airline company to launch a loyalty program. Currently, the program has 3 million subscribers and has awarded more than 3.3 million tickets.
TAM – www.tam.com.br