Weekly Report - 16 August 2012 (WR-12-32)

CHILE-BRAZIL| LATAM reports increase in passenger traffic. On 9 August the Chilean-Brazilian LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America’s largest airline, reported that following its successful merger last year, its passenger traffic has increased by 7.9% in July. The company said that while its overall capacity after the merger increased by 2.9%, the company has maintained a high average occupancy rate which in July was 83.6%. LATAM attributes this to a high level of passenger traffic on its international flights, which accounted for 49% of its total passenger traffic. LATAM points out that domestic flight operations in its Spanish-speaking markets (Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia) saw a 24.7% rise in passenger traffic which has outstripped its increase in capacity which was 22.4%. This led to a 1.5 percentage point rise in the occupancy rate to 81.8%. In contrast, domestic flight operations in Brazil saw a 1.4% drop in capacity and a 10.1% increase in passenger traffic which led to an 8.5 percentage point increase in the occupancy rate to 81.4%. This is positive news for the company currently valued at US$12bn as it seeks to consolidate its merger process in the near future by fully integrating the operations of the two companies that comprise it - Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 720 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial