LATAM Airlines merges Chile’s LAN, Brazil’s TAM into one brand

Reuters: LATAM Airlines Group SA, Latin America’s largest carrier, announced on Thursday the unification of its LAN and TAM brands into a single corporate identity to be known as LATAM.

The rebranding comes three years after the Santiago-based company, formerly known as LAN Airlines SA, merged with Brazil’s TAM to create the region’s largest airline.

The unified brand will begin to be physically visible on planes and other areas from next year and the whole process will take around three years to complete, the company said in a statement.

The move to create a unified, global brand instead of two strong domestic brands underscores a growing industry focus on international tourism to offset more meager domestic demand in the region.

LATAM’s Brazilian division TAM announced last month that it would reduce domestic capacity by 8-10% and rival carrier Gol Linhas Aereas SA said it would reduce frequencies by 1.6% in the second half of the year.

The company also has LAN subsidiaries in Peru, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador, which will be folded into the LATAM brand.