Leading Brazilian airline TAM has been officially authorized by the Brazilian Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC – Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil) to operate four additional weekly frequencies to Germany, totaling seven weekly flights to that country.
The company should start daily operations to Frankfurt by the end of the year. In preparation for the new routes, TAM signed a Memorandum of Understanding with German airline Lufthansa three months ago to implement codesharing on national and international routes.
TAM has been increasing its market share on international routes. It ended July with a 64.3% share among the Brazilian companies that operate internationally.
In Europe, it already has direct flights to Paris (three flights per day, two from São Paulo and one from Rio de Janeiro); London (one flight per day) and Milan (one flight per day).
In the United States it flies to Miami (three flights per day, two from São Paulo and one from Manaus) and to New York (two flights per day).
It also serves various destinations within South America: Buenos Aires and Cordoba (Argentina), Santiago (Chile), Asuncion and Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), and Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba (Bolivia).
The company has already announced the beginning of daily flights to Caracas (Venezuela) in September, Montevideo (Uruguay) in October, and Madrid (Spain) in December.
TAM has been the leader in the Brazilian domestic market since July 2003, and held a 50.6% domestic market share and 64.3% international market share at the end of July 2007.