Transportes Aéreos del Mercosur S.A, d/b/a LATAM Airlines Paraguay (formerly known as TAM Paraguay and previously Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas), is the flag carrier and the national airline of Paraguay with its headquarters in Asunción, Paraguay.[1] Its flights operate from Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asunción. Its parent is the Chilean company, LATAM Airlines Group.
History
The airline was established on November 17, 1962, and started operations in 1963 as Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas. The airline then operated for a brief period between 1995 and 1996 as a subsidiary of the Ecuadorian airline SAETA under the name LAPSA Air Paraguay.
On September 1, 1996, Aerolíneas Paraguayas (a subsidiary of TAM Linhas Aéreas) purchased 80% of the majority shares of the airline, which by then both airlines were merged under the name TAM – Transportes Aéreos del Mercosur. It was then sold to TAM Linhas Aéreas later that year on October 6, which used two Fokker 100 jets to cover regional destinations.
In March 2008, following a branding strategy, the name TAM Mercosur was dropped and the airline adopted a corporate identity identical to its Brazilian owner.