MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

LAN reported traffic increase of 9.9% during November

LAN Chile and related companies, one of the leading airline groups in Latin America reported a passenger traffic increase of 9.9% in November, according to preliminary monthly traffic statistics and punctuality indicators.

International passenger traffic for November rose 2.7% as capacity increased 5.0%. Accordingly, the international passenger load factor for the month decreased 1.7 points to 75.6%. International capacity grew due to an increase in operations to the South Pacific, Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as certain regional routes and routes to Europe and the United States. Domestic passenger traffic in Chile, Argentina and Peru rose 28.3% as capacity increased 32.3%. As a consequence, the domestic load factor for the month decreased 2.4 points to 78.0%. Growth in domestic capacity was driven mainly by an expansion of operations in Argentina and Peru. Cargo traffic decreased 1.7% as capacity rose 5.8%. As a consequence, the cargo load factor decreased 5.3 points to 70.6%, affected mainly by higher capacity on regional routes. Cargo traffic decreased mainly as a result of a slowdown in import markets from the United States to Latin America. During November, 90.9% of the Company's total flights left on time, based on a fifteen-minute standard (all departures leaving within fifteen minutes of the scheduled departure time are considered as "on-time"). This represented an increase of 4.1 points compared to the same month of 2007. LAN is one of the leading passenger airlines in Latin America serving more than 60 destinations around the world through an extensive network that offers full connectivity within Latin America while also linking the region with North America, Europe and the South Pacific, as well as 58 additional international destinations through its various codeshare agreements. LAN and its affiliates have a leading position in their respective domestic markets of Chile and Peru as well as an important presence in the Argentine domestic market. LAN operates one of the most modern fleets in the world, with 76 passenger aircraft and its cargo affiliate, LAN CARGO, operates 9 dedicated freighters. The company recently completed its short haul fleet renovation process by acquiring new aircraft from the Airbus A320 family, enabling LAN to improve its efficiency and to reduce significantly its CO2 emissions. The fleet renovation is part of the company's commitment to the protection of the environment.