LATAM Airlines Group said it has seen strong traffic growth this year, helped by a surge in returning international passengers.
The group’s affiliated airlines—based in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru—carried a combined 32.8 million passengers for the first five months of 2024, up 16.6% versus the same period last year.
LATAM, meanwhile, unveiled plans to add frequencies on a number of routes to the U.S., noting a desire to buttress the LATAM-Delta Air Lines antitrust-immunized joint venture (JV).
International passengers carried from January through May rose 30.6% year-over-year to 4.8 million.
LATAM carriers flew 6.4 million passengers in May, up 11.2% over May 2023. Capacity was up 15.9% year-over-year for the month, with a 27.6% rise in international capacity. Consolidated load factor for the month was 81.4%, up 2.3 percentage points from 79.1% in May 2023.
In addition to the positive traffic growth, the group said it will be adding frequencies on a number of routes to the U.S.
From Oct. 27, flights between Santiago International Airport (SCL) in Chile and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will grow from 6X-weekly to 7X-weekly. Also in October, LATAM will start operating between São Paulo Guarulhos Airport (GRU) in Brazil and LAX 4X-weekly, up from 3X-weekly currently.
The airline group will add three weekly frequencies between GRU and Orlando, Florida, in October, moving from 4X-weekly to 7X-weekly service on the route.
In November, service between SCL and Miami will grow from 12X-weekly to 13X-weekly, and then will be boosted again to 14X-weekly flights in December…
