LAN´s Volume of Flown Passengers Soared in May

The volume of airborne passengers flown by LAN, Chile´s premier airline, went up a blistering 19.9 percent in May 2004 compared to the same month the year before.

Execs from LAN, one of Latin America´s main passenger and cargo carriers, said occupancy per flight jumped a couple of notches to 64.8 percent.

The company, based in Chile and with operational hubs in Ecuador, Peru and the Dominican Republic, chalked up $48.12 million worth of benefits in the first quarter of 2004, little more than half the total amount of revenues it grabbed all through last year. For its part, international passenger traffic grew 22 percent in May.

“These results reflect what an ever-growing demand in a number of markets, greater overall market participation and the opening of new air routes can do,” the company´s front office states in its monthly report.

LAN is working hard to become Latin America´s leading air company and is hoping to close the year with a 15 percent increase in sales over the $1.6 billion reaped in 2003.

In the domestic field, passenger traffic was up 9.4 percent in May, while occupancy rate peaked 58.9 percent.

Cargo traffic –gauged in tons per flown miles- climbed 28.8 percent in May as overall capacity increased by 22.9 percent.

“These figures mirror a recovery in traffic toward Latin America, bigger export volumes from the region and increasingly larger market participation,” the report concludes.