TAM, South America’s largest airline and a Star Alliance member, will introduce a new direct non-stop service between London and Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, 10 August. The thrice-weekly service will use Airbus A330-200s that compliment the existing daily Boeing 777-ER service between London and Sao Paulo.

The new Airbus A330-200 will offer 223 seats that, as on the Sao Paulo service, include a First Class cabin with just four flat sleeper seat units that have been designed for the passenger’s maximum privacy and comfort. The Airbus offers a further 36 seats in business and 183 in economy. Flight times in both directions between London and Rio de Janeiro are designed to maximise convenience, and the connecting services at both ends of the route with other TAM flights or those of its Star Alliance partners.

With the new Rio service, TAM will be offering over 3,200 seats a week in each direction between the UK and Brazil. An increase in capacity of 25%.

The inaugural flight out of Rio de Janeiro’s Tom Jobim International Airport (Galeao) to London Heathrow Terminal 1 will take off just after midnight on Monday, 9 August. The new Rio flight will then depart from London on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday at 21.15 and land in Rio de Janeiro early the following morning at 05.15. Flights from Rio will leave for London just after midnight on Monday, Thursday and Saturday evenings and arrive at Heathrow at 16.05. [Note: With a take off time of 00.35 from Rio, the flights will appear in reservation systems as being on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday].

TAM’s Commercial & Planning Vice-President, Paulo Castello Branco, says: “We have seen a steady and solid increase in passenger demand between London and Rio de Janeiro on the existing Sao Paulo service. We therefore decided that the time was right to offer our clients the convenience and comfort of a new non-stop service between the two cities. A service that will strengthen our operation at Rio’s international Airport, Galeao, which is already TAM’s second most important international hub after Sao Paulo.”

TAM has seen the number of passengers transported between the UK and Brazil increase from a monthly average of 9,500 in 2007 to 10,900 in 2008, and 15,600 in 2009. Between January and May 2010 the monthly average was 17,200, representing an expressive increase in demand of 81% over the period. Load factors have also increased despite the increased capacity of the aircraft used on the route. For the first five months of 2010 the Boeing 777-ER has been flying between the UK and Brazil with a load factor of 82.3%.

“At TAM we also recognise the importance of the growing links between these two very special cities that will host the next two summer Olympic and Paralympic games,” adds Castello Branco. “London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.”

The new service from London will offer good connections in Rio de Janeiro to-and-from a number of popular destinations in Brazil and South America. TAM passengers, and those of the 26 member airlines of the Star Alliance, will also benefit from the extra connections available over London.
 
10 August also sees the introduction of a new direct non-stop service between Rio de Janeiro and Frankfurt. Other international destinations with non-stop services to-and-from Rio de Janeiro include Paris, New York, Miami, and Buenos Aires, as well as Santiago and Caracas which are serviced with a short stop in Sao Paulo.

Rio de Janeiro is already considered one of the world’s great leisure destinations, but TAM has also seen a considerable growth in the amount of business traffic between London and Rio de Janeiro, lead by the oil and gas industries as well as finance and banking. Rio is the centre of Brazil’s rapidly developing oil and gas industries that involve many UK companies.

With the introduction of the new Rio service, the daily direct flight from London to Sao Paulo, which will still offer connections to Rio, will now depart Heathrow Terminal 1 at 22.05 to arrive in Sao Paulo at 05.35 the next morning. Flights will leaves Sao Paulo at 23.40 and land in London at 15.00 the following afternoon.

TAM passengers to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo will benefit from the airline’s new facilities at London Heathrow’s Terminal 1, with check-in and ticketing facilities located in the redesigned main concourse. Airside, beyond customs and passport control, eligible TAM customers have use of the Star Alliance First and Business Class Lounge that is located in the duty-free shopping area close to the Star Alliance Flight Connections Desk. Star Alliance is the largest alliance operating out of the core Central Area at Heathrow.

TAM’s first and business class passengers living or working within 65 miles of London Heathrow can also book a complimentary, luxury chauffeur drive transfer to-and-from Terminal 1, and at any destination airport outside of Brazil.

The Central Area, where Terminal 1 and TAM are located, is the only area at Heathrow that has direct access to the full range of public transport: Heathrow Express and the London Connect Service, all Underground trains to Central London as well as all local and regional bus services.