
Lan Chile went to court in Argentina on Monday to appeal its eviction from a hangar at the metropolitan Buenos Aires Aeroparque airport, which is a crucial element of its national and regional operations. Several unions have anticipated that if the eviction is not stopped they will go on strike and interrupt domestic flights.

Lan Chile admitted the company had to yield to the demands from the Argentine company Intercargo, which monopolizes ground services in all the country’s air terminals, so that they could resume normal traffic in Argentina. It also said that it was not leaving Argentine but would review future investments and expects more common sense from local authorities.

Chilean company Lan Airlines said on Saturday it was “gradually resuming” domestic and international flights in Argentina that it had suspended on Friday due to a conflict with state-run Intercargo company. Intercargo said it had re-established the service to Lan after the airline agreed to cancel a debt.

LAN Chile halted on Friday all its flights in Argentina until Saturday morning after the state company Intercargo which provides ground support for the airline, unilaterally decided to cancel the service despite court orders to the contrary.

Brazil’s low-cost airline Gol announced that it is eliminating the WebJet brand, the rival airline that it took over earlier this year, cutting 850 jobs and reducing domestic capacity in the process.

Chile's newly merged regional carrier LATAM Airlines said on Monday it would spend 7.87 billion dollars on its fleet through 2014. The airline aims to have a 359-strong fleet by 2014, up from the 319 planes projected for this year.

Chile’s flag-carrier LAN announced that as of Wednesday it will cut Chile-South America fares as much as 40%. For years LAN has used what is known as the low-cost carrier model on its domestic flights, which has greatly reduced fares on its domestic flights and increased traffic.

TAM, Brazil's largest airline, reported a fourth-quarter profit on rising ticket prices, fanning expectations of more profitable operations in the year ahead despite recent cost pressures.

Chilean flag-carrier LAN SA and Brazil's TAM SA have unveiled senior management changes as their plan to merge advances. The merger is expected to be completed in the first quarter, and will see the two airlines taken over by a new holding company, LATAM Airlines Group, the companies said in a statement.

Chile's LAN Airlines and Brazilian carrier TAM have appealed to Chile's top court some of the conditions imposed on their planned merger as the companies push ahead to create one of the world's biggest airlines.