Brazilian airline TAM cuts travel demand forecasts

SAO PAULO Feb 13 (Reuters) - TAM, Brazil's largest airline, cut on Monday its travel demand estimate for this year and will further lower the size of its fleet, signaling that an economic slowdown will hamper revenue.

Growth in demand for air travel, presented by gains in the so-called passenger revenue per kilometer, or RPK, was slashed to a range of 8 percent to 12 percent, versus 16 percent last year, the company said in a securities filing. The range for RPK growth in 2011 was 15 percent to 18 percent.

Net income at São Paulo-based TAM slipped 36.4 percent in the fourth quarter from the same period of 2010 to 95.5 million reais ($56 million).