Chilean airline conglomerate LATAM Airlines on Friday announced that its 95 percent reduction in passenger operations will extend into May, due to the coronavirus crisis, which has had a deeper impact than first anticipated.
Because of Health restrictions imposed in most of the countries where the company flies, and almost complete drop in demand for airline tickets forced LATAM, Brazil’s largest airline, to reduce its operations by 95% and cancel all its international flights until April 30.
Latam’s CEO Roberto Alvo declared that the current crisis will be the worse than anyone anticipated, and that LATAM will have to resize the company as they come out of the crisis.
During the month of May, LATAM’s domestic operations in Brazil will continue to be reduced by 95%, only o keep the connectivity between Brazilian capitals, while internationally, the airline expects to operate six weekly frequencies between Santiago and Miami, and three frequencies between São Paulo and Miami.
LATAM, the airline, formed when LAN Chile acquired Brazil’s TAM, flies to 145 destinations in 26 countries, and has local carriers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Latam counts with over 42,000 employees and operates about 1,400 daily flights, transporting approximately 74 million passengers per year.
