TAM Airlines, also known as Transportes Aéreos del Mercosur S.A., formerly known as TAM Mercosur and LAP (Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas), is the flag carrier and the national airline of Paraguay. Its flights operate from Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asunción.
The airline was established in 1962 and started operations in 1963 as Lineas Aereas Paraguayas. After a brief period (1994–1996) as a subsidiary of the Ecuadorian airline SAETA when its name was LAPSA, in 1996 the majority of the stakes of LAP were sold to the Brazilian airline TAM Airlines and the current acronym was adopted.
In 1994 TAM Airlines established a small subsidiary airline in Paraguay, called ARPA-Aerolineas Paraguayas, formerly operated by TAM. In 1996, ARPA purchased 80% of the shares of the former state-owned LAP – Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas and both airlines were merged under the name TAM – Transportes Aéreos del Mercosur. In 2008, following a branding strategy, the name TAM Mercosur was dropped and the airline adopted a corporate identity identical to its Brazilian owner, becoming TAM Airlines.
Source: Wikipedia