MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

LAN's Enrique Cueto selected CEO of the Year.

Latin Finance magazine citing ten straight years of profits and a whopping 300% jump in stock prices since 2002, has named LAN Chile's Enrique Cueto as its CEO of the Year. The magazine's October 2004 issue ? dedicated to infrastructure investment ? carries a wide-ranging interview with the Chilean airline executive written by Mary Dempsey.

Each year, LatinFinance surveys the region's top companies and selects a short list of corporate presidents and CEOs that have shown creative leadership, opened markets and delivered outstanding results for their shareholders and clients. No other company in Latin America and few airlines in the world matched the performance of LAN, according to LatinFinance.

The magazine award comes at a time when Mr. Cueto marks his 10th year at the helm of the carrier and LAN Chile celebrates its 75th year of operation.

While other airline shuffled through bankruptcy papers, lobbied their governments for bailouts and pleaded with unionized workers for givebacks, Mr. Cueto guided LAN to revenues of1.8 billion US dollars for the year ending June 2004. LatinFinance credits Mr. Cueto personally with leading the carrier through a decade of profits, noting that even in 2001, marked by the worst crisis ever in commercial aviation plus a tailspin in Argentina ? an important market for LAN ? the carrier made money. LAN has no short-term debt, and its long-term obligations are tied up in jets and carry preferential interest rates.

In the interview Mr. Cueto says he's not worried about new competition from U.S. low-cost carriers moving into the region. "Maybe in five years they'll be a presence, but not in the short term," he says.

He identifies the top challenges facing aviation in the region, reveals what he sees as LAN's biggest weaknesses and discusses his ongoing efforts to enter the Argentine market, even though negotiations to buy a 34% stake in small Argentine airline American Falcon broke off in late June.

Citing a new study that predicts global air-cargo will grow an average 5.6 % annually from 2003 to 2008, with Latin America moving even faster at 6%, LatinFinance predicts that LAN's strong franchise will benefit with continued record-breaking cargo levels. Further, the carrier is poised to grab an even bigger slice of the Peruvian passenger market behind the demise of Aero Continente.