Brazilian TAM increases A320 fleet and selects A350

Brazilian airline TAM has signed a purchase agreement for 20 additional A320 Family aircraft (including A320s, A319s and A321s) with 20 options. The airline also has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the purchase of 8 A350-900 with 7 options.

The A320 Family aircraft will be delivered between end of 2007 and 2010. These aircraft will be equipped with a single class layout and will be put into service on TAM’s domestic and inter-regional network.

Deliveries for the all-new 350 are scheduled to start at the end of 2012. The aircraft will be fitted with a 3-class cabin configuration and will be put into service on TAM’s international network.

“Airbus provides us with state-of-the-art aircraft and we are committed to having Latin America’s most modern fleet whilst continuing to put maintenance and safety first through cutting edge technology” declared Marco Bologna, President of TAM, “the very efficient A320 Family has enabled us to grow and open up new routes. We are also looking forward to the new A350 which looks very promising for the industry.”

The A350 Family is benefiting from and expanding upon the quantum leaps in technology developed for the A380. With up to 60 per cent of weight-saving new advanced materials, in the form of carbon fibre wings and an aluminium-lithium fuselage, the Airbus A350 will be lighter per seat – and hence more economical. This design, together with centralised maintenance and extended check intervals, will also help to give the Airbus A350 attractive maintenance costs.

The all-new A350 Family includes two members: the A350-800 able to carry up to 245 passengers in a three class configuration up to 8800 nm/16300 km and the A350-900 accommodating as many as 300 passengers in a three class configuration up to 7500 nm/13900 km.

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