Brazilian holiday travelers incensed about an overbooked flight stormed an airport tarmac to prevent a commercial jet from taking off, and a tourism industry leader said two months of chronic flight delays have created a "disaster" for tourism in Latin America's largest country.

On December 27, the protest happened after a group of about 30 travelers with tickets from Sao Paulo to the northeastern city of Recife waited more than 40 minutes aboard an airline transport bus outside a Tam Linhas Aereas SA jet at one of Sao Paulo's two airports, Brazil's Globo TV reported.

When the crew closed the jet's door because the plane was full, some of the passengers got off the bus in an attempt to stop the plane from leaving. Police removed them from the tarmac, but the flight was delayed for more than two hours. Last week, Brazilians invaded runways at several jammed airports plagued by delays just before Christmas.

Separately, Leonel Rossi Junior, international affairs director for the Brazilian Travel Agency industry group, said Brazilian air travel chaos since late October has sent sales of tour packages plummeting by 15 percent as the industry enters its busiest season of the year.

Brazil, a country of 185 million, is heading into high holidays, with children out of school until late January at the height of the South American summer. Because of the flight delays, many Brazilians are now considering driving instead of flying to vacation destinations.

Meanwhile, tour operators fear international sun seekers who want to escape the cold winters of Europe and North America will be spooked away from Brazil by incessant media images of travelers sleeping in airports while awaiting flights to all parts of the nation.

"Everyone saw the suffering of people at the airports," Rossi said, calling the delays a "complete disaster."

In the capital of Brasilia, Defense Minister Waldir Pires announced that authorities were banning overbooking and new charter flights in preparation for a new crush of air travel over the busy January 1 holiday.

The government also wants to avoid travel nightmares over the weekend because travelers in droves are expected to head to Brasilia for the January 1 inauguration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, when he will be sworn in for a second term, Brazil's Agencia Estado news agency reported.

Brazil's air travel delays began about a month after a September 29 collision between a Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA Boeing 737 and an Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet killed 154 passengers in the country's deadliest air disaster.

After the crash, air traffic controllers significantly slowed airline operations by following regulations to the letter in a "work-to-rule" protest to demand better pay and working conditions.

On December 5, authorities suspended takeoffs from three major airports for several hours after an air control system failed, prompting an unprecedented wave of flight cancellations.

The air travel woes resurfaced on December 19, when Sao Paulo's domestic airport - the country's busiest - shut down because of bad weather.

The next day, Tam grounded six planes because of maintenance problems, causing more cancelations and flight delays and prompting Silva to call in the Brazilian air force to help transport airline passengers. Tam was ordered to halt ticket sales until the situation returned to normal.

On December 27, Tam said in a statement that 38 passengers who could not be boarded on the flight to Recife were placed on a later flight, and were given dinner and credit for flights in the future, according to Globo TV and the Web site of Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest newspaper.

The airline did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on December 27, and the phone at the company's press office went unanswered.