Claudia Sender, previously vice-president of the Brazil Domestic Business Unit of TAM Airlines, has become the company’s chief executive.

According to Marco Antonio Bologna, chief executive of holding company, TAM S.A., who had occupied the position since February last year, the two functions are once again separated so that the incoming executive can fully dedicate her time to the airline’s passenger operations in Brazil.

Meanwhile Bologna will focus on consolidating the merger with LAN, the institutional relations of the company and of the LATAM Airlines Group in Brazil, and on representing the Brazilian management at the LATAM Airlines Group.

“The current business climate in Brazil poses enormous challenges as well as considerable opportunities for airlines.

“The current incentives for our industry and issues such as the incentives for regional aviation, the expansion in airport capacity, the dynamics of competition, and the major events that Brazil will host this year and in the coming years, demand a strong focus on the company’s day-to-day operations, which will be now be Claudia’s responsibility,” said Bologna.

Senders joined TAM Airlines on December 15th 2011.

She has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic School at the University of São Paulo, received an MBA from Harvard Business School, and has spent most of her career in the consumer goods industry in the marketing and strategic planning areas.

“Claudia’s impressive results in creating value and focusing on consumers at the companies where she has worked, and more importantly the results she has achieved in managing TAM’s business in the Brazilian market, plus her capacity to train and lead teams, fully qualifies her to head up the task of serving millions of customers and further ensuring access to air travel for consumers in the world’s third largest domestic market,” added Bologna, to whom the new chief executive will continue to report.

The separation of the two chief executive functions first occurred at TAM in May 2010, when Bologna became chief executive of the holding company TAM S.A., the parent company of TAM Airlines, TAM Airlines in Paraguay and Multiplus.