Latest quarterly financial results for South American airline group LATAM show a gradual recovery for the business after the ravages of the pandemic-hit last couple of years.
The Chile-headquartered group – which has subsidiary operations across much of South America, including Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador and Peru – said flight capacity, across its second quarter, reached nearly 73% of 2019 levels and more than doubled compared to the same quarter last year.
That growth was mainly driven by the solidity of the domestic markets in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, in addition to the recovery of international operations, and was achieved against a backdrop of sharply increasing fuel prices.
During the period, the group’s total operating revenues reached $2.23bn, 6.1% less than in 2019, but an increase of 150.5% compared to last year.
In turn, total operating expenses increased by 3.5% compared to the same quarter of 2019, driven by a 31.5% increase in the fuel cost line in the quarter compared to the same period of 2019.
At the end of the second quarter, LATAM reported losses of $523.2m.
LATAM Airlines Group chief executive Roberto Alvo said: “We have closed a second quarter with significant progress in our reorganisation process under Chapter 11 and we hope to emerge from it during the last quarter of this year. Although the group has made advances in its operational recovery, we continue to remain cautiously optimistic about the coming months, closely monitoring fuel prices and macroeconomic variables, as the industry still finds itself in the midst of a very dynamic environment.”
During the period, LATAM Group obtained the approval of its Reorganisation Plan by the United States Bankruptcy Court and secured its exit financing.
At an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, LATAM obtained the necessary approval from its shareholders for the company’s new capital structure and the issuance of the financing instruments presented in the plan, receiving the support of the vast majority of shareholders, corresponding to 99.8% of the shares present or represented at the meeting, which correspond to 77.5% of the total shares with voting rights, allowing LATAM to begin the final phase of regulatory requirements in Chile for the eventual implementation of the plan.
LATAM has already begun the process of registering the instruments of the plan in Chile, which began with the submission of the request for registration of the instruments before the Commission for the Financial Market (CMF) on July 8.
