TAM Airlines to join Star Alliance

The Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance has unanimously voted to accept Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines, the largest carrier in South America, as a future member.

"Thanks to TAM, Latin America will no longer be a white spot but rather a hot spot on our world map," said Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Star Alliance, at the official joining announcement in São Paulo. "We are very proud having TAM as a future member, their decision to join Star Alliance clearly reflects the ongoing importance of alliances today."

Brazil, as the continent's economic powerhouse, is the largest and most important market for business and leisure travel in Latin America. With a market share of 20% (73.9% among Brazilian carriers) TAM has the largest portion of international travel to and from Brazil and is also the largest network operator on the continent.

With 116 aircraft, TAM currently flies to 42 domestic and 16 international destinations thereby operating the largest as well as one of the youngest fleets - the average aircraft age is 5.9 years - of all Latin American airlines. The integration process is expected to take from 12 to 18 months.

The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 and today members include Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, Egyptair, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Regional member carriers Adria Airways (Slovenia), Blue1 (Finland) and Croatia Airlines enhance the network. Air India and Continental have been announced as future members.

Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 18,100 daily flights to 975 destinations in 162 countries.

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