LANCHILE has placed orders for three Boeing 767-300ERs, worth $300 million, and is drawing up a long-range plan to renew and expand its Boeing 737 fleet.
The General Electric CF6-80C2-powered 767s, deliveries of which will be begin in April 1998, are the first to be purchased directly by the Chilean carrier - its existing fleet of ten is leased from a variety of operating-lease companies, including GE Capital Aviation Services, International Lease Finance and Polaris. LanChile vice-chairman Boris Hirmas says that the 767s will meet the airline's requirements for additional international passenger and cargo capacity. He notes that 80% of the carrier's revenues come from international services.
Hirmas says that a study is under way into replacing LanChile's 15 737-200As with new-generation 737s "-as the market requires".
LanChile was privatised in 1989, when it was sold to an investment group led by SAS, but performed poorly until the current investors took control in 1994, Hirmas says. Profits have mushroomed from $300,000 in 1993 to $38 million in 1996, he says, buoyed by economic growth exceeding 7% a year in Chile and 5% in the rest of Latin America.
The carrier, which plans to sign a codesharing agreement with a major US airline by the end of 1997, has seen its traffic grow by 30% a year, while costs have remained competitive, at around 5cents per available-seat kilometre, Hirmas says. Cargo accounts for 30% of revenues.
Source: Flight International
