MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru suspends flights of LAN Peru.

The Peruvian government suspended as of Friday October 15 all operations of the country's second largest air carrier Lan Peru following a judicial ruling stating the company had violated civil aviation regulations.

The activities suspension of Lan Chile's affiliate in Peru will extend for five days and is extensive to all commercial domestic and international flights, according to a spokesperson from the Peruvian Transport and Communications ministry.

Lan Peru which has been operating for five years dominates a quarter of the Peruvian domestic air market carrying daily on average 5,500 passengers involving 45 flights with 11 domestic and 11 international destinations.

The ruling from Judge Eloy Zamalloa delivered to the Peruvian Civil Aviation authorities two weeks ago dates back several months following claims from a small domestic airline, Aviandina, which no longer exists.

Allegedly Lan Peru does not comply with Peruvian regulations demanding Peruvian flagged aircrafts and crew and a 30% local ownership of the company.

The Peruvian government earlier in the week warned that suspending Lan Peru's activities would damage the country's image and have a negative impact for tourism and commerce. Lan Peru described the decision as "unfair and arbitrary"

In an official release from Lan's main offices in Santiago the company said that if the suspension is just for five days, it shouldn't have a significant impact for its affiliate Lan Peru and advanced the implementation of an emergency plan "to minimize the inconveniences for our passenger and cargo clients".