New plane will be used on route between Sao Paulo and London
São Paulo – TAM today received its fourth Boeing 777-300ER, which will operate the daily round-trip flight between Sao Paulo and London beginning this month. Next week a new Airbus A330 aircraft will also join the fleet, which will allow the company to operate additional flights to Miami during the high season.
In order to meet the increased demand from the domestic market during the end-of-year vacations, three Airbus A320 aircraft were received ahead of time and have already been added to the company’s fleet. The strategy included an efficient contingency plan prepared by the Company, allowing TAM to achieve the highest level of punctuality during this period of all flights operated by Brazilian companies, according to an Infraero survey.
With the addition of the two wide-bodied aircraft (B777 and A330) TAM’s total fleet has increased to 129 aircraft, of which 122 are Airbus models (20 A319s, 81 A320s, three A321s, 16 A330s and two A340s), four are B777-300ERs and three are B767-300s.
The company’s fleet plan (see graph) was also altered with the elimination of one B767-300 aircraft. Despite the change to the fleet plan, the company’s estimates for an increase in number of seats available in 2009 for both domestic and international markets have been maintained at 8% and 20%, respectively, measured in ASKs (Available Seat Kilometers). The company has also kept its growth estimate between 5% and 9% in demand from the domestic market.