Ecuador's TAME is preparing to launch services to Panama as it looks to expand internationally and add codeshare partners.

TAME chief executive Gustavo Cuesta told ATI at the 2010 ALTA Leadership Forum the Ecuadorean carrier will launch daily Airbus A320 flights from its Guayaquil and Quito hubs to Panama City on 1 December. The Panama-Ecuador market is currently only served by Copa, which Cuesta says TAME hopes to potentially work with as it aims to secure codeshare partners.

Cuesta says TAME currently does not have the capability to codeshare with any carriers because it uses an antiquated in-house reservation system. But he says TAME plans to introduce a SITA system in February, which will open up the possibility of codesharing for the first time.

TAME is looking for potential international partners as it starts to expand into international services. TAME is Ecuador's largest domestic carrier, capturing nearly half of the country's domestic market in 2009. But the carrier currently only operates scheduled services to one international destination, Havana, which it launched late last year and now serves four times per week.

Cuesta says international expansion is important given the increase in competition in the domestic market. LAN Ecuador last year launched domestic services and earlier this year began serving the lucrative Galapagos market in cooperation with Icaro.

TAME now flies to 19 destinations in Ecuador, down from 13 last year as six unprofitable markets have been dropped. Cuesta says TAME is owned by the Ecuadorean air force but is self-sufficient, traditionally using profits from trunk routes to subsidise routes to smaller communities. He says the air force is now open to selling 49% of TAME if it is able to find an appropriate investor.

TAME operates a fleet of nine aircraft consisting of three Airbus A320s, one A319, three Embraer E-190s and two Embraer E-170s. Cuesta says TAME has no plans to add aircraft next year but expects to expand its Airbus fleet in 2012 to support further international expansion.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news