South American airline LATAM hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the final quarter of 2022.
The airline, which went into Chapter 11 protection in the US in May 2020, said it had made “significant progress in our reorganisation process” in the past few months. This has included having its reorganisation plan approved by the US bankruptcy court and securing exit financing.
Roberto Alvo, CEO of LATAM Airlines Group, added: “We hope to emerge from it [Chapter 11] 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.”
LATAM said that its capacity reached 72.6 per cent of 2019 levels in the second quarter of the year, which was also double its capacity during the same period of 2021.
“This recovery of capacity is mainly explained by the solidity of the domestic markets in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, in addition to the recovery of international operations, and takes place in a context marked by a sharp increase in fuel prices,” said the group in a statement.
During this period, LATAM’s revenue reached $2.23 billion, which was only 6.1 per cent lower than in the same quarter of 2019.