"Aircraft Leasing Deal of The Year" award conferred on the Company in London by Jane's Transport Magazine SAO PAULO, Brazil, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TAM (NYSE: TAM; Bovespa: TAMM4) has just received the "Aircraft Leasing Deal of The Year" award for the innovative and favorable terms it obtained to finance four B777-300ER aircraft ordered from Boeing on the basis of a financial leasing operation. The granting of the award by the British publication Jane's Transport was carried out at a ceremony in London attended by TAM's manager of International Contracts, Jose Zaidan Maluf. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080221/SPTH002LOGO ) In July of 2008 TAM received a financial guarantee from Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) to make possible the financing of four aircraft. Four other international financial institutions took part in the operation: PEFCO - Private Export Funding Corporation, Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank, Natixis and Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking. Two of the aircraft have been delivered by the Boeing plant in Seattle over the last six months. The third and fourth planes will be delivered this month and in January, respectively, in keeping with the conditions of the financing that was contracted. For Libano Barroso, TAM's Vice President for Finance, Management and IT, "this award is the result of the solidity that the company has shown in its balance sheets, which we credit to the efficiency of our domestic and international operations, as well as our financial management, based on our conservative risk management policy." http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080221/SPTH002LOGO DATASOURCE: TAM CONTACT: Libano Miranda Barroso, TAM Investor Relations, +011-55-11-5582-9715, fax, +011-55-11-5582-8149, Web site: http://www.tam.com.br/

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