From the Newsroom*
São Paulo – Brazilian carrier TAM announced yesterday (21st) that it has signed firm orders for purchase of 46 new Airbus commercial jet aircraft, totalling US$ 6.9 billion. According to the Brazilian airline, orders placed include one for 22 A350 XWB models 800 and 900 aircraft, which have capacity for transporting from 270 to 314 passengers. The airline will be the first customer for the aircraft in Latin America.
Deliveries of the A350s should begin in 2013. The company also ordered four A330-200s, a model with capacity for 253 to 293 passengers – depending on cabin configuration –, and should receive the first unit in 2010. Contracts also provide for the purchase of another 20 jet aircraft of the A320 family, which includes models with capacity ranging from 107 to 199 passengers.
TAM has announced that it is the main customer for Airbus in the Southern Hemisphere, and that it owns the largest fleet of aircraft by the manufacturer in Latin America. Currently, the company has a fleet of 109 aircraft, of which 102 are Airbuses. The company operates 12 A330-200 jets, plus another 88 aircraft of the A320 family, two A340-500s, as well as three MD-11s and four Fokker 100s.
This year, the number of Airbus aircraft operated by the Brazilian company should reach 123, and 136 in 2010.
Not counting destinations served by subsidiaries and partnering airlines, TAM flies to 47 different locations in Brazil and 11 outside the country: New York, Miami, Paris, London, Milan, Frankfurt, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Caracas and Montevideo.
By means of its subsidiary TAM Mercosur, the company also flies to Asunción and Ciudad del Este, in Paraguay, Córdoba, in Argentina, Santa Cruz de La Sierra and Cochabamba, in Bolivia, among other South American cities.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum