TAM Linhas Aereas, the leading Brazilian airline, said on Friday that recent turmoil in the country's airports hasn't caused much of an impact in the company's finances.

TAM's load factor, a measurement of passenger capacity on an airplane, was down in November from initial projections, said chief financial officer Libano Barroso.

"Our initial estimate was to have a load factor of 70 percent, and we had 68 percent," Barroso said in an interview at the New York Stock Exchange, where the airline was celebrating "TAM Day."

TAM shares were up $1.66, or 5.7 percent, at $30.90 in afternoon NYSE trade.

Brazilian rival airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes on Thursday revised its earnings forecast lower for the year because of airport disruptions the past two months.

Gol cut its per-share profit estimate to between 3.4 reais

($1.60) and 3.65 reais in 2006 from a previous forecast issued last month of between 3.75 reais and 4 reais.

Air traffic in Brazil has been disrupted since a Boeing 737 operated by Gol crashed in the Amazon in September, killing all 154 people aboard. It was Brazil's worst-ever air disaster.

Brazilian police on Friday charged two U.S. pilots, who were at the controls of a small executive jet which clipped wings with the Gol airliner, with endangering air safety.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of four years imprisonment, the police said. The pilots have denied any responsibility for the crash.

An inquiry exposed major faults in Brazil's air traffic control system and has led to work slowdowns by controllers to protest poor pay and long hours. Air traffic has been disrupted several times since the crash.

At least 1,000 flights were delayed on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 322 more were canceled, triggering two days of near chaos at airports in Brazil. Authorities took the unprecedented step of temporarily shutting down three major airports Tuesday and Wednesday.

Barroso said he believed the air traffic control problem would be resolved by the first quarter of next year.

Barroso said the company is "over delivering" on what it has promised this year. The company projected a load factor of 69.5 percent in 2006, and is at 72 percent for the year. It estimated demand would grow 12 percent to 15 percent, and through November demand is up 13 percent, he said.

As for costs, TAM expected to reduce costs by 5 percent, and they are only down roughly 3 percent, because of higher fuel costs and investments the company has made related to new flights to New York and London.