TAM – Transporte Aéreo Militar (Military Air Transport) is an airline based in La Paz, Bolivia. It is owned by the Bolivian Air Force, and was established to offer flights to rural communities where commercial airlines could not operate profitably. Today it also operates in competition with commercial airlines on many of Bolivia's trunk domestic routes.

TAM began operations on June 15, 1945 with the acquisition of new Douglas C-47s. In 1955, the squadron of the Bolivian Air Transport named TAM to began commercial operations.

"El Grupo Aéreo "71" (the Air group "71") known by the civil populace as Transporte Aéreo Militar (TAM), is an essential part of the structure of the Bolivian Air Force and the fundamental element for the development and integration of the populations in the distant parts of the national territory."

—TAM website, Historical summary/review.

The original name (from 1944) was "El Escuadrón de Transporte Aéreo" (ETA). In 1953 the name was changed to Transporte Aéreo Militar. This heritage is reflected in the words "Grupo Aéreo 71" appearing as part of the TAM logo.

Transporte Aéreo Militar services the following destinations:

Bolivia

The TAM fleet consists of the following aircraft:

This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.

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