MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lan system passenger traffic for December was up 10.7%

Chile's Lan airlines and associates announced that its system passenger traffic for December 2008 grew 10.7%, and capacity rose 12.6%. This means that load factor declined 1.3 points over last year to 74.7%. The company noted that international passenger traffic accounted for about 68% of total passenger traffic.

International passenger traffic rose 3.4% as capacity increased 5.5%. Hence, the international passenger load factor fell 1.5 points to 73.9%. Domestic passenger traffic in Chile, Argentina and Peru rose 30.5% as capacity increased 32.4%, driven by an expansion of operations in Argentina and Peru. Domestic load factor for the month decreased 1.1 points to 76.5%. Cargo traffic declined 15.6% as capacity fell 2.0%. The company said that its cargo traffic was affected by a slowdown in Latin American import markets, as well as lower exports of perishable goods from Chile and Peru as compared to December 2007. As a result, cargo load factor decreased 10.7 points to 66.2%. During December 2008, 89.6% of the company's total flights left on time, based on a fifteen-minute standard, which represents an increase of 9.3 points over a year earlier.