As for India - I can think that traffic to BOM might be the only profitable routes for them, but even that is a long-shot. While there might be some, albeit small demand, the issue arrises that many other carriers provide services that would compete with TAM, each with their own pre-established customer bases and with their convenient connections to other areas. Even within Star the Indian market is preety saturated - citing LH's already large presence, and with the addition of AI soon - I think that TAM will probably cite the lower costs/better relations of operating a codeshare with AI to European hub in order to connect passengers onto TAM's mainline fleet. It would be great to see TAM flying to BOM, DEL or any of the other cities though. The only odd route that might have made sense (but that it preety much also a slim shot) would have been the flights to Goa. Goa still retains a distinctly Portuguese feel to it, and the linguistic and grammatical distinctions are still there. But, in reality - Goa is a tourist destination, and offers amenities that are paralleled by Brazilian destinations.
As for your idea of routing flights through Africa - even though logistically, the route seems efficent - security-wise it might be a nightmare. I am still unsure as to whether the average person would feel safe communting through central Africa. For a relitavely long time, things had been a nightmare in all of Central Africa, with few exceptions (Kenya being one of them), but recently things have taken a turn for the worse. Even though stopping in Africa would be great for the length, feul restrictions, I doubt that it would be a prudent stop while connecting.
The only way that I could think of is that TAM could serve Kenya, or another nation within central Africa if the oil industry called for the route. As for equipment to serve the route - we may not need the A345s, for I doubt that the demand will be that high. For the route, TAM could probably convert one of their aircarft to an all-business class layout (one of the smaller A32Xs), and use it in that config.
*** Umm *** I am unsure as to why - but for some reason, JNB (Johannesburg, South Africa) has eluded me as an option. It could be a great stop for them, all things considered - relitavely safe, no visa requirements, along the best route and they would be able to share with another Star alliance partner (SAA). Accordign to circle mapper -
With: GRU-JNB being 4630 Miles, and with GIG-JNB being 4451 Miles.
Then:
JNB - HKG: 6631 Miles.
JNB - NRT: 8438 Miles.
JNB - SYD: 6892 Miles.
JNB - AKL: 7575 Miles.
JNB - SIN: 5381 Miles.
JNB - BOM: 4319 Miles.
Not too bad, and even if they do not do the routes on their own metal, I am sure that they can easily codeshare with SAA.
As for your idea of routing flights through Africa - even though logistically, the route seems efficent - security-wise it might be a nightmare. I am still unsure as to whether the average person would feel safe communting through central Africa. For a relitavely long time, things had been a nightmare in all of Central Africa, with few exceptions (Kenya being one of them), but recently things have taken a turn for the worse. Even though stopping in Africa would be great for the length, feul restrictions, I doubt that it would be a prudent stop while connecting.
The only way that I could think of is that TAM could serve Kenya, or another nation within central Africa if the oil industry called for the route. As for equipment to serve the route - we may not need the A345s, for I doubt that the demand will be that high. For the route, TAM could probably convert one of their aircarft to an all-business class layout (one of the smaller A32Xs), and use it in that config.
*** Umm *** I am unsure as to why - but for some reason, JNB (Johannesburg, South Africa) has eluded me as an option. It could be a great stop for them, all things considered - relitavely safe, no visa requirements, along the best route and they would be able to share with another Star alliance partner (SAA). Accordign to circle mapper -
With: GRU-JNB being 4630 Miles, and with GIG-JNB being 4451 Miles.
Then:
JNB - HKG: 6631 Miles.
JNB - NRT: 8438 Miles.
JNB - SYD: 6892 Miles.
JNB - AKL: 7575 Miles.
JNB - SIN: 5381 Miles.
JNB - BOM: 4319 Miles.
Not too bad, and even if they do not do the routes on their own metal, I am sure that they can easily codeshare with SAA.
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