Apparently TAM Airlines was able to record a profit of about $1.3 billion for the financial year of 2009. This great news for the company came despite a very sharp drop in earnings overall. TAM Airlines, which is Brazil’s largest airline, saw earnings before interest and taxes fall 51.8 percent to just R$336 million when compared to 2008.

The big change was prompted by a fall in the total number of business class passengers that the airline saw. Also a decrease in yield and a reduction in the load factor on both international and domestic flights had a role in this downturn as well. Yield is the average price paid per passenger for each kilometer flown.

The president of TAM Airlines, Libano Barroso, said that with solid planning, they were courageous and kept their investment and fleet plans. However, at the same time they concentrated on cost cutting. This had to be done without compromising the quality of their service. In this way, the airline managed to respond well to the effects of the global crisis, and they are now well positioned to continue to offer the best service as the economy improves.

The gains for the financial year of 2009 offset the R$1.5 billion that was lost in 2008. This loss came at the height of the global financial crisis. In 2009, TAM Airlines was able to transport 30.4 million paying passengers on both domestic and international flights. This was a slight increase of 0.9 percent when compared to the total number of paying passengers in 2008. Although other airlines reported losses in 2009, this company was one of the few to have a decent year despite the economic downturn.