TAM Airlines (Portuguese: TAM Linhas Aéreas) is the Brazilian brand of LATAM Airlines Group. The merger of TAM with LAN Airlines was completed on June 22, 2012. The company is currently the largest Brazilian airline by market share and fleet size, though it is not a flag carrier.
Before the takeover, TAM was Brazil's and Latin America's largest airline. Its headquarters are in São Paulo, operating scheduled services to destinations within Brazil, as well as international flights to Europe and other parts of North and South America. Shares in the company were traded on the São Paulo Exchange (BM&F Bovespa) and New York Stock Exchange as "TAM". Prior to the merger with LAN, the company closed its capital, transferring its shares to LATAM Airlines Group. However, in August 2015, it was announced that the two airlines would fully rebrand as LATAM, with one livery to be applied on all aircraft by 2018.
According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), between January and December 2014 TAM had 38.1% of the domestic and 78.82% of the international market shares in terms of passengers per kilometer flown, making it the largest airline in Brazil.
TAM Airlines, also known as Transportes Aéreos del Mercosur S.A., formerly known as TAM Mercosur and LAP (Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas), is the flag carrier and the national airline of Paraguay with its headquarters in Asunción, Paraguay. Its flights operate from Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asunción. Its parent company is LATAM Airlines Group.
The airline was established in 1962 and started operations in 1963 as Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas. After a brief period (1994–1996) as a subsidiary of the Ecuadorian airline SAETA when its name was LAPSA, in 1996 the majority of the stakes of LAP were sold to the Brazilian airline TAM Airlines and the current acronym was adopted. This is not to be confused with a Bolivia military-run passenger service, Transporte Aéreo Militar, TAM, operating mainly DC-3 and CASA 212 aircraft to domestic underserved destinations and not related to the civilian airline.
In 1994 TAM Airlines established a small subsidiary airline in Paraguay, called ARPA - Aerolíneas Paraguayas, with a fleet consisting mostly of Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft, formerly operated by TAM. On 1 September 1996, ARPA purchased 80% of the shares of the former state-owned LAP - Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas and both airlines were merged under the name TAM - Transportes Aéreos del Mercosur. Today TAM owns 94.98% and the Paraguayan government 5.02% of the shares.