LAN's December Passenger Traffic Up 10.7 Percent

January 9, 2009

Chile's dominant airline, LAN, said on Friday its passenger traffic rose 10.7 percent in December from a year earlier, with passenger traffic up 12.3 percent for all of 2008.

The company said international passenger traffic rose 3.4 percent during December, while domestic traffic in Chile, Argentina and Peru increased 30.5 percent. International traffic accounted for about 68 percent of total passenger traffic.

Domestic traffic rose 30.5 percent in 2008 from 2007, while international traffic increased 6.6 percent.

The load factor for December fell 1.3 percentage points to 74.7 percent, while capacity grew 12.6 percent. The load factor for full-year 2008 rose 0.6 percentage points to 76.6 percent.

LAN, which has affiliates in Ecuador, Peru and Argentina, accounts for more than half of Chile's international passenger traffic and nearly three-quarters of its domestic traffic.

One of Latin America's largest carriers, LAN saw its 9 month net profit rise 5.4 percent to USD$218.64 million on revenue of USD$3.355 billion for the January-September period in 2008.

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