TAM Linhas Aéreas
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| TAM Linhas Aéreas | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA JJ |
ICAO TAM |
Callsign TAM |
| Founded | 1961 | |
| Hubs | Guarulhos Int'l Airport Congonhas International Airport |
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| Focus cities / secondary hubs | Galeão International Airport Santos Dumont Reg. Airport Tancredo Neves Int'l Airport Salvador International Airport |
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| Frequent flyer program | Fidelidade | |
| Member lounge | VIP Lounge | |
| Fleet size | 94 | |
| Destinations | 48 + 26 | |
| Parent company | TAM Linhas Aéreas S.A. | |
| Headquarters | São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil | |
| Key people | Marco Antonio Bologna (CEO) | |
| Website: http://www.tam.com.br/ | ||
TAM Linhas Aereas is an airline based in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the largest Brazilian airline operating scheduled services from São Paulo to major points within Brazil, as well as international flights to neighbouring countries and Chile, the United States, and France.
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[edit] History
TAM was founded on February 21, 1961. It was started by 5 former air-taxi pilots who came together to form their own company. At first, the company was named Transportes Aéreos Marília (Marília Air Transport) after the pilots' hometown of Marília, São Paulo. Over time, this acronym has evolved substantially. It began operations with 4 Cessna 180 and a single Cessna 170, ferrying cargo and passengers across Paraná, São Paulo and Mato Grosso states. At the time, fast agricultural expansion in an area with little if any infrastructure ensured ample demand for TAM's services.
In 1964, Orlando Ometto, owner of several agricultural ventures in the region, purchased a 50% stake in the company, with the intent to use its aircraft and pilots to support an agricultural expansion project of his own in central Brazil. With the new capital, TAM went on to purchase new aircraft. As the original pilot-owners left the company, Ometto purchased their share of the company, eventually owning 100% of the company.
In 1966 the company incorporated its first twin-engined aircraft models, including the Piper Aztec, Piper Navajo and the Rockwell Grand Commander. During this period, the company also relocated its offices from Marília to the state's capital, São Paulo.
[edit] Rolim Amaro
In 1971, TAM's operations turned to the worse and Ometto found himself losing money. In his search for someone to turn TAM around, Ometto called Rolim Amaro, a former pilot of TAM who had left and eventually had formed his own air-taxi company. Amaro proposed to liquidate his own company and purchase a portion of TAM. While this did not constitute 50% of TAM's capital, he proposed to Ometto that if he was able to make TAM profitable within one year, he would be given the remaining portion of the 50%. In case he failed, he would receive nothing. In April, 1972, the contract between Amaro and Ometto was signed, giving Amaro operational control over the company.
At the end of 1972, Amaro sold TAM's entire fleet. At the same time, he personally travelled to Cessna's Wichita, Kansas facility and after two months of negotiations with the company, he returned to Brazil with 10 Cessna 402 aircraft. Within one year, Amaro managed to fulfill his promise and was accorded the 50% of TAM's capital as stated in his contract.
In 1974, TAM added two Lear Jets to its fleet. In exchange for one of these jets, 33% of the company's stock was given to the jet's owner, Tião Maia. The three-way split between Maia, Ometto and Amaro would remain until 1975, when Maia sold his share to Ometto. This substantially deteriorated the atmosphere between Amaro and Ometto. In 1976, after 9 months of negotiation for Ometto's 50%, Amaro wrote a check for $2 million, with the promise to pay it over a period of time.
Despite selling one of the jets and other assets, he was still unable to make the payments. For a period of time, Amaro went as far as cancelling insurance for his planes, in an attempt to reduce costs. The morning after insurance was reinstated, on September 24, 1977, one of TAM's Lear Jets crashed on approach to Santos Dumont Regional Airport. Despite no injuries, the aircraft was a total loss. However, with the cash from the Lear's insurance and the proceeds of the sale of a farm, Amaro concluded his purchase of TAM.
[edit] TAM Regional Airlines
In 1976, prior to Amaro's takeover, TAM had participated in a joint-venture with VASP (then a state-owned airline) to create regional routes between São Paulo and Mato Grosso. The company, dubbed TAM Regional Airlines, flew EMB-110 Bandeirantes at first. These, however, proved grossly inadequate for the task at hand, and even at full capacity needed to be subsidized by the government in order to be profitable.
TAM went on to purchase three used Fokker F27 turboprops, which were then refurbished by Fokker in Holland. In order to obtain the import authorization for the aircraft, a deal was struck with the government where TAM was forced to maintain 3 Bandeirantes for every F27, as well as removing 5 seats from each one, bringing the F27's capacity down to 40 passengers. A fourth F27, previously owned by Air New Zealand, was incorporated in 1981. TAM would eventually own 10 F27s by 1983.
By 1981, TAM had flown 1 million passengers, and that figure reached 2 million by 1984.
In August of 1986 the company, under financial stress, went public and began floating stock in the market. In 1986, the airline acquired rival VOTEC, earning access to areas in northern and central Brazil. The new acquisition would at first operate in conjunction with Brasil Central, but this plan was eventually dropped and TAM suffered yet another acronym change, to TAM Transportes Aéreos Meridionais.
In 1988, TAM flew its 3 millionth passenger.
[edit] Fokker 100s
Despite TAM's success in the market, it was evident the airline would not last long when competing against airlines such as Varig and VASP which already possessed Boeing 737s in their fleet. Amaro then tried to buy VASP, about to be privatized, and called the project "Revolution". Having lost the bid, he opted for a slower growth with a gradual addition of new aircraft, re-dubbed "Evolution".
On September 15, 1989, TAM arranged for the acquisition of two Fokker 100 jets, which had originally been ordered by the now-bankrupt PanAm. Like the F27s before them, TAM did not actually purchase them, but used Amaro's credibility to arrange for a third-party asset management company, Guinness Peat Aviation to purchase them and subsequently lease them back to TAM. Two more were added in 1991.
In 1992, TAM carried its eight millionth passenger.
By 1993, through the use of the Fokker 100 fleet which now numbered at 14, TAM was serving 56 cities in Brazil.
[edit] Transportes Aéreos do Mercosul
see full article: TAM Mercosur
[edit] Flying Abroad
In 1996, TAM bought another air company, Helisul, which soon started using the trade name of TAM too, and in 1997, TAM ordered its first big jets, 45 planes from Airbus: 10 A330s, 4 A319s, and 34 A320s.
In 1997, the Airbuses began to be delivered and the airline flew its first international service, from São Paulo to Miami International Airport.
Two years later, in 1999, services to Europe were inaugurated through a code share service with Air France, to Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris.
In 2000 the airline was renamed TAM Linhas Aereas. Long running discussions to merge with Varig ended in 2004. The airline is owned by Amaro family (69%), Bank Garantia Funds (22%) and others (7%). It employs 10,471 staff.
[edit] Other
TAM has contracts with model airplane manufacturers like Schabak and Wooster.
The company is noted for its attention to customer service. One of TAM's characteristic is having the aircraft's captain and head purser stand next to the entrance of the aircraft while it is being boarded, greeting passengers. Prior to his death, Amaro often greeted passengers himself on early morning flights at Congonhas, before starting his workday.
[edit] Incidents and accidents
In an incident on February 8, 1979, a Bandeirante crashed near the town of Agudos killing all 18 people aboard. This was the first accident with loss of life for TAM.
In 1984 a second Bandeirante crashed in poor weather on approach near Macaé, killing all 17 people aboard.
On February 12, 1990 a F-27 aborted its landing, striking houses and a car outside the airport of Bauru. The 2 occupants of the car were killed.
On October 31, 1996, TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 402 crashed shortly after take-off from Congonhas, striking an apartment building and several houses. All 90 passengers and 6 crewmember onboard died. Three people were killed on ground. The crash was attributed to a faulty thrust-reverser in the right engine deploying after take-off.
On July 9, 1997, at Suzano a bomb was detonated in the rear part of the passenger cabin of a Fokker 100. The explosive decompression blew one passenger out of the aircraft. The plane landed safely despite a 10 by 5 foot hole next to the right engine.
On September 18, 2001, the right engine of a Fokker 100 broke up during flight over Belo Horizonte, sending shrapnel into the cabin and depressurizing it. One passenger died.
On August 31, 2002, another Fokker 100 force-landed at a farm near Araçatuba after running out of fuel. The gear-down landing's only victim was a cow on the ground. No passengers were injured. On the same day, another Fokker 100 made an emergency gear-up landing at Viracopos airport. Shortly after the incidents of August 31, TAM announced its intention to immediately reduce its fleet of Fokker 100 and phase out the type completely within three years.
On August 8, 2006, the forward airstair of a Fokker 100 separated from the aircraft just after the plane took off from Congonhas, hitting the roof of a supermarket in São Paulo. No one was injured in the accident, and the aircraft landed shortly after.
[edit] Services
See full article: TAM Linhas Aéreas destinations.
Many other destinations, such as Asunción, Chicago, Lima, Nagoya, Bordeaux, Zurich, and Geneva are serviced through code-share agreements with airlines such as TAM Mercosur, American Airlines, TACA, Japan Airlines and Air France.
[edit] Fleet
The TAM Linhas Aereas fleet consists of 94 aircraft (as of November 2006):
- 14 Airbus A319-100
- 49 Airbus A320-200
- 10 Airbus A330-200
- 21 Fokker F100
The average age of the TAM fleet is 6.7 years as of September 2006, which is the youngest Brazilian fleet.
On June 16 2005, TAM announced the purchase of 20 additional Airbus A320 family aircraft (including all the models A319/A320/A321) plus an additional 20 options. These are expected to be delivered between late 2007 and 2010, adding to the already scheduled delivery of 6 A320s between 2006 and 2008.
At the same time, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus stating their intent to buy 10 of the new Airbus A350-900 (plus 5 options), with deliveries due to commence at the end of 2010 and to be delivered by 2012. These are expected to replace the A330 on the Paris and Miami routes as they become available.
TAM is to order 37 more Airbus narrowbodies and widebodies for delivery through 2010. The fast-growing carrier says in a statement that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus to acquire another 15 A319s, 16 A320s and six A330s. It says the commitments are separate from deals last year for 29 firm-ordered A320s and 20 options. This new order has been confirmed on November 16, with 12 A319s, 16 A320s, 3 A321s and 6 A330 firm orders, plus 12 options. The deliveries are confirmed to be concluded at 2010, as informed by Airbus.
Based on current plans by 2008 it will no longer be operating Fokker 100s and its fleet will comprise 132 aircraft by 2010, including 112 A319/A320/A321s, 16 A330s and 4 B777.
On October 31, 2006, TAM announced an unprecedented order for 4 of Boeing's 777-300ER widebody planes plus options for another 4 planes of the same type. This comes as a surprise as TAM has been a long-time all Airbus operator. Deliveries of the 370-seat 777s will commence in 2008. TAM will operate 3 leased Boeing MD-11s as an interim solution while it awaits delivery of its 777s, which will arrive in the next 6 months. According to Libano Barroso, TAM’s Investor Relations Director, the MD-11s arrangement has Boeing full support, allowing those high-cost aircraft to have a final operational cost lower even than the A330s [2].
On November 13, 2006, TAM announced that will be reviewing their intention to buy the Airbus A350, due to changes in the original project of the aircraft. The company is waiting a response from Airbus about the new conditions of the project, such as delivery dates (originally scheduled to 2012) and prices, to make a decision between the A350 and the Boeing 787 aircraft. A new announcement is expected by the end of November.
TAM also recently recieved permission from ANAC to fly to Milan Malpensa International Airport (MXP), with a extension to the Brazil-Italy Bilateral agreement.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Thales Guaracy(2003). O Sonho Brasileiro. São Paulo : A Girafa.
- [3](2005). TAM confirms purchase of 20 Airbus A319/A320/A321. São Paulo.
- [4](2006) . Airbus customer turns to Boeing with billion-dollar 777 order. The Seattle Times.
