Brazilian airline Tam and Turkish Airlines have signed a code-share agreement. Both companies are currently members of the Star Alliance – although there is uncertainty as to how long will Tam remain a member of the alliance. The agreement will allow each of the two companies to sell tickets for a number of flights flown by the other company. At first, Tam will be able to sell tickets to Istambul (in flights operated by Turkish) while Turkish will be able to sell tickets to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Porto Alegre, Foz de Iguazú and Buenos Aires (in flights operated by Tam).

For the agreement to become effective the approval of the aviation authorities of both countries is needed.

Brazilian antitrust authorities gave the go ahead last week to the merger of Brazilian airline Tam and Chilean airline Lan – in our opinion, the purchase of Tam by Lan, as we detailed at LATAM, the new Lan Brazil? – our assessment of the LAN/TAM merger.

CADE, the Brazilian antitrust body, also set as a condition for the merger that LATAM, the airline resulting from the merger, be a member of just the one airline alliance. Currently Tam is part of the Star Alliance while Lan belongs to Oneworld.

Young Brazilian airline Azul would be keen on expanding its operations abroad, flying to other destinations in South America. The declaration of intent came from the mouth of one of the company’s executives and was reproduced by local newspaper Estado de São Paulo. The decision to fly abroad would be taken sometime in 2012.

Azul’s current domestic market share is 10%. The company is less than three years old.

Brazil’s Gol and Argentina’s Aerolíneas Argentinas have just reached an agreement allowing miles accrued flying with one airline to be deposited in the frequent flyer program of the other company. The agreement will also allow for domestic flights in Argentina to be issued with a Gol code and domestic flights in Brazil with an Aerolíneas code.

It is estimated it will take up to five months for the agreement to be implemented. The civil aviation authorities from both countries still need to approve the agreement.

From time to time we like to have a look at the figures published on a regular basis detailing the composition of the domestic aviation market. According to the official body ANAC, these are the airlines dominating the domestic market in August 2011:

• Gol, 38.84% of market share
• Tam, 38.37% of market share
• Azul, 9.27% of market share
• Webjet, 5.74% of market share
• Avianca Brasil, 3.55% of market share
• Trip, 3.43% of market share

The remaining airlines add up to less than 1%. As Gol has just had its purchase of Webjet approved, its market share should increase during the coming months.

The now partners British Airways and Iberia have just included their Brazilian flights in their code share agreements.

As a result, Iberia flights from Madrid to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will also use a British Airways flight code. Conversely, British Airways flights from London Heathrow to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will use an Iberia flight code too.

Folha de São Paulo newspaper reports that the Brazilian goverment has made it a priority to pass, during the second semester of 2011, an act that would increase to a maximum of 49% the share of foreign investment in Brazilian airlines. Read the full article at the newspaper’s English-language edition: Government wants more foreign investment in airlines.

Swiss airlines have signed a code-share agreement with its Star Alliance partner Tam allowing the European airline to sell tickets to Brasilia, Curitiba and Florianópolis.

Passengers embarking on either of the three cities on their way to Europe will find convenient connecting flights to Guarulhos International Airport, the base from where Swiss operates its São Paulo-Zurich flight. An existing code-share agreement between Swiss and Tam is currently serving Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre.

With information from Panrotas and Jornal de Turismo.

It’s all over the front pages of the economy sections of the journals: Brazilian airline Gol has acquired its competitor Webjet (Gol compra Webjet por R$ 96 milhões). It was not that long ago that Gol had purchased the then more than fragile Varig.

We’ve got nothing in particular against or for Gol or Webjet. But to see Gol and Webjet go hand in hand, on the one side, and to see Tam and Trip do the same on the other side, means a serious setback to the development of an open civil aviation market in Brazil.

Gol acquired Varig to get rid of a competitor. The company denied it but the fact is that the Varig brand has been all but forgotten.

Tam purchased Pantanal while speaking of strengthening regional aviation. What has happened is quite different. Pantanal is now ceasing to operate regional flights and quite likely the brand will follow the route of Varig. What Tam was really after when it purchased Pantanal was the regional company’s slots at the coveted Congonhas airport in São Paulo.

Tam is now after a substantial share of Trip (Compra da Trip é contra-ataque da TAM à Azul, diz especialista), a regional airline with an excellent flight network who has challenged Gol and Tam in a few markets while at the same time flies to other destinations forgotten by the big airlines. Will Trip follow in the future the path of Pantanal?

Gol is now acquiring an airline who challenges the company with its low fares. Webjet has helped regulate the market. Without Webjet, the big two players will have an easier ride.

Azul, once quite aggresive, and a candidate for acquisition in the future (all Brazilian airlines are up for sale) cannot battle alone the big two.

Avianca, good as it might be is current strategy, is growing very slowly and is also powerless to face the giants.

This is a time where we should be seeing a move away from the concentration of flights in the hands of very few airlines, helping create a market where competition runs free. Unfortunately, the Brazilian aviation market is seeing just the opposite. Concentration poses a real risk for the system.

Of course national airlines should be profitable. But we refuse to believe the Brazilian market is not currently profitable. If national capital doesn’t have the know-how to operate more airlines, perhaps the moment has come for a wider participation of foreign capital with new ideas and proposals. Brazil will not lose its sovereignty due to such move.

Concentration only benefits a few businessmen and the politicians that support them. All we consumers can do now is pray that CADE (the Brazilian body regulating competition) takes a look at the acquisition of Webjet exempt from political interference.

Skytrax has just revealed its ranking of the best world airlines for 2011 (you can check it out at World Airline Awards). Unlike other rankings (Condé Nast Traveller comes to mind) where the winners have to pay if they want to appear in the final list, in the case of Skytrax the rankings are ellaborated from the votes of hundreds of thousands of passengers. Companies do not pay to appear on the final rankings.

Out of the top 10 airlines in the world, 4 fly to Brazil:

• Qatar Airways won first place. It flies from São Paulo to Buenos Aires and to Doha, the capital of Qatar. We flew with them and published a very detailed flight report in Spanish at de Barcelona a São Paulo vía Doha con la Qatar Airways.
• Second place went to Singapore Airlines. It flies from São Paulo to Barcelona and continues to Singapore. Our friend and partner Rodrigo Purisch went on the inaugural flight and he’s publishing many blog posts with details of its experience.
• Ninth place on the ranking went for Turkish Airlines, the top European airline on the list. It flies from São Paulo to Istanbul. We hope to get the chance to experience their services first-hand soon, so we can tell you what it’s like to fly Turkish.
• On the tenth place of the ranking, Emirates, currently flying from São Paulo to Dubai.

Always keep in mind the names of those companies when searching for fares. Very often their fares are quite competitive.