Brazil's TAM sees positive 2009 despite downturn

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - TAM Linhas Aereas, Brazil's leading airline, is "well positioned" to withstand the current economic downturn and the burden of costly fuel hedge contracts that have weighed on its balance sheet, Chief Executive David Barioni Neto said in an interview on Tuesday.

"In 2009 our financial result is going to be positive," Barioni told the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit in Sao Paulo. "We're well positioned and our balance sheet is not under stress."

He made the remarks a day after Fitch Ratings cut the company's debt ratings to BB- from BB, citing concerns about the deterioration of its credit profile and its operating margins.

Barioni also said that TAM has embarked on a strict cost-cutting program to weather the current economic turmoil, and added that money-losing fuel and currency hedge contracts will return to profitability this year.

(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Todd Benson, Alberto Alerigi Jr and Cesar Bianconi; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)