OREANDA-NEWS. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. and its subsidiaries, (“LATAM Airlines Group” or “the Company”) (NYSE: LFL / IPSA: LAN / Bovespa: LATM33), the leading airline group in Latin America, today reported its preliminary monthly traffic statistics for April 2015 compared to April 2014.

System passenger traffic increased by 0.5% while capacity increased by 1.5%. As a result, the Company’s load factor for the month decreased 0.8 points to 81.6%. International passenger traffic accounted for approximately 52% of the month’s total passenger traffic.

Domestic passenger traffic in LATAM Airlines Group’s Spanish speaking operations (Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia) rose 4.6%, while capacity increased by 5.2%. As a consequence, the domestic passenger load factor decreased 0.4 points to 77.4%.

Domestic passenger traffic in Brazil decreased by 1.8%, while capacity decreased by 2.7%. As a consequence, the domestic Brazil passenger load factor increased 0.8 points to 81.7%.

International passenger traffic increased by 0.7%, while capacity increased by 3.2%. Accordingly, the international passenger load factor for the month decreased 2.0 points to 82.9%. International traffic includes international operations of both LAN and TAM on regional and long haul routes.

Cargo traffic for LATAM Airlines Group decreased 11.2% as capacity decreased 0.2%. As a consequence, the cargo load factor decreased 6.7 points to 54.4%. The decrease in cargo capacity is a result of reduced freighter operation. Cargo traffic decrease was driven by a weaker cargo scenario in Latin America, mainly due to the economic slowdown in the region.