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Chile's flagship carrier LAN Airlines will rent three Boeing Co 767-300 freighters and purchase two 777 freighters for its cargo fleet to keep up with growing regional demand.
LAN, which is among the region's largest airlines and operates domestically in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru, is in a merger process with Brazilian carrier TAM, a transaction that it expects to complete between April and June, reported Dow Jones Newswires.
The merger would place the newly formed regional giant, Latam Airlines Group, among the top 15 airlines in the world and make it the largest airline in the region.
The first of the 767-300F planes arrived at the beginning of November, and another will be delivered in December and the last in January, while the 777F aircraft LAN will buy are scheduled to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2012, the company said.
By the end of 2012, LAN's cargo unit and its Mexican Mas Air and Brazilian Absa subsidiaries will have 10 767-300Fs, four 777Fs and two rented Boeing 767s.
The expanded fleet will allow Mas Air to increase traffic between Mexico and the US, and Mexico and South America, and permit greater connectivity for Absa's Miami to Brazil route, LAN said.
The Chilean carrier expects its cargo business to grow 20 percent this year and by 13-15 percent in 2011.
LAN has a US$7.7 billion investment plan until 2018, which includes 95 orders for Airbus A320 aircraft until 2016 and the purchase of 26 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner passenger jets and leasing of another six. The Chilean carrier aims to increase its total fleet from 96 planes in 2009 to 176 in 2018.
Cargonews Asia
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