Lan's new Colombian subsidiary has disclosed its initial schedule, ownership structure and management team as it prepares to launch services to the US and four South American countries next month.
The new carrier, in a filing yesterday with the US DOT, also has revealed its name. The airline, which Lan announced last May it would establish, will be called Linea Aerea Carguera de Colombia, or LACC.
LACC will be led by Alberto Davilla and based in Bogota. Davilla, a Colombian citizen, will serve as executive vice president and own a 10% stake in the carrier.
The other 90% is owned by Chile-based subsidiaries of Lan with Lan Cargo holding 85.6% and three other subsidiaries holding 1.6% each.
In yesterday's filing, LACC asked for approval from the US DOT to link Miami with Bogota and Medellin in Colombia as well as Manaus and Viracopos in Brazil, Lima in Peru and Santiago in Chile.
LACC plans to initially operate 24 weekly flights to Miami, including 20 from Bogota, three from Medellin and one from Lima.
From Miami, of the 24 weekly flights only seven will go direct to Bogota and three to Medellin. Of the other 14, eight will go to Viracopos, four to Manaus, one to Lima and one to Santiago. All these flights subsequently return to Colombia with four of the Viracopos flights also stopping in Caracas in Venezuela before reaching Medellin.
ATI reported late last month that Lan Cargo was planning to launch the new carrier "sometime around March" with two Boeing 767-300 freighters. In the filing with the DOT, LACC says "service is intended to begin on our about March 12" with two 767-300s maintained by Lan.
LACC tells the DOT it has already secured authority from the Colombian aviation authority to provide international scheduled and charter all-cargo services. LACC was incorporated in Colombia last July and as of 19 January had 3.25 billion Colombian pesos ($1.3 million) in capital.
While Lan controls 90% of the new carrier, LACC claims to be "a citizen of Colombia" because two of its three board members are Colombian. Davilla will be on the board as well as Diego Pardo Tovar, a Colombian citizen who will serve as chairman. The third board member will be Chilean citizen Claudio Torres.
On the senior management team will be five Colombian citizens and one Chilean citizen. Director of maintenance Sergio Poblete is the one Chilean citizen.
In addition to Davila the Colombian citizens on the management team include commercial manager Marcel Di Muzio, human resources manager Maria Luna, finance and administration manager Lorena Herrera, director of operations Camilo Sinisterra and information technology manager Jaime Duarte.
While LACC is 90% Chilean-owned the carrier says this should not be an issue holding up its application to the US DOT because another Colombian cargo carrier, Tampa, was long-owned by Dutch citizens and was recently was sold to Brazilian citizens.
Lan already has cargo airline subsidiaries in Brazil and Mexico and believes LACC will fill a gap in its otherwise extensive Latin American cargo network. Colombia is the largest air cargo export market in Latin America, with flowers typically filling outbound flights to Miami.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
