Brazil’s civil aviation authority, ANAC, has approved the planned merger between TAM of Brazil and Chile’s LAN with no restrictions, giving a huge boost to their aim of creating Latin America’s largest airline. Antitrust regulators in Chile had halted the integration of the two airlines in January amid worries it could harm competition.
Although ANAC, which stated that the process was approved "in the same mold that it was presented", has approved the deal, other regulatory entities in Brazil still need to authorize the process. Shares in TAM gained 1.3% to 36.04 reais.
Meanwhile: Boeing now stands at 17 aircraft for net orders during 2011 after its 55 new orders were drawn back by 38 cancellations. Boeings order update for February shows that it gained ten new 777 orders with two of them going to TAM but it also showed that Etihad, the flag carrier of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, cancelled orders with Boeing for four 787s in February leaving it with 31 787s on order. In addition Boeing’s monthly update of its website shows that air Berlin has cancelled orders for two 737s during February.
Airbus in comparison had a net loss of three orders during the same period, following the cancellation of 30 aircraft by the aircraft leasing unit of Dubai Aerospace Enterprises (DAE). On Monday, DAE cancelled orders for 12 A350s and 18 A320s.
It goes to show that the fallout from 2008/2009 is still running through the books at Boeing and Airbus and with oil on the rise again and capacity increases slowing it is clear that we will see more throughout 2011.