Gilles Le Boulaire, Sales and Marketing Manager France, TAM Brazilian Airlines

TAM took advantage of Varig's financial problems last year to strengthen its network in Europe. Could Varig's return to France and Europe jeopardise this expansion?

Gilles Le Boulaire - Our international development was planned and has been one of our company's main objectives ever since we opened up internationally in 1998, with the inauguration of the first flight from Sao Paulo to Miami, followed in 1999 by TAM's first long-haul flight to Paris. It would therefore be wrong to associate the planning of our European development with the financial difficulties that Varig had been experiencing for many years. In just a few years, we have won the confidence of professionals in the French market by offering a modern fleet and quality services. What's more, we are the only airline to offer three direct flights from Paris to four gateways in Brazil: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador de Bahia and Recife. Our presence in the French market since 1999, our constant growth and our plans to open new routes in Europe - after Milan and London, TAM is opening Frankfurt and Madrid before the end of 2007 - are all positive signs that allow us to look to the future with enthusiasm. Brazil, with its continental dimension, should be able to offer another Brazilian airline the opportunity to reposition itself on the international market.

The company has privileged agreements with Air France. Could you become a Skyteam member?

G. L. B. - The choice of integrating an alliance for TAM is still under consideration. However, to date, there is nothing to suggest that such a choice might be made. Our partnership and code-share agreements with Air France have been renewed, in France and Brazil, so that we can continue to distribute our connecting passengers. Our airline has recently signed new partnership and code-share agreements with United Airlines, TAP and Lufthansa, all Star Alliance airlines, and also with Lan Chile, which is part of Oneworld.

What new products is the company offering?

G. L. B. - At Roissy-CDG airport, with our ground handler Europe Handling, we set up a team working on our own check-in system and speaking French, Portuguese and English. In this way, we have improved the quality of our check-in service and met a real demand from our customers. High-contribution passengers are greeted by TAM staff and we will shortly be setting up a dedicated team of staff for first and business class passengers. We are continuing to add Airbus A330s to our long-haul fleet and, during 2008, we will receive our first Boeing 777s.