translated from Spanish: In Picado: Latam lost 60.1 million dollars in the first quarter of 2019

The Latam group, one of the main airlines beats Noamericanas, had a net loss of 60.1 million dollars in the first quarter of this year, reported this Thursday the company.
The loss is compared negatively with the earnings of 92.2 million of dollars obtained in the same period of last year, indicated the company, which said that its operational margin reached to 82.1 million of dollars in the first quarter of the current year.
Latam said the operational margin reached 3.3% in the quarter, mainly due to declines in yields, influenced by the devaluation of local currencies, the consequent effect on international demand, especially in Argentina, and the excess of Offer on international routes.
Total revenues decreased by 7.5% per year, up to 2,525,300,000 dollars, due to a decrease in freight and passenger revenues.
Passenger income decreased by 6.5% and revenues per charge by 10.9% also because of greater depreciation of local currencies, which caused lower levels of imports, mainly in Brazil and Argentina.
Meanwhile, the airline said, total operational costs decreased 0.7% year-on-time, and if the fuel was excluded, those costs would have declined by 2.6% year-on, despite an increase of 6.7% in bid prices.
The company’s management commented that the first quarter of 2019 presented more challenging market conditions than anticipated.
“The demand for international travel in Argentina deteriorated as a result of the sustained depreciation of the Argentine peso, while we continue to see an overcapacity in international routes to and from Brazil,” he said.
The foregoing “was amplified by the depreciation of other Latin American currencies, such as the Brazilian real, the Chilean peso and the Colombian peso, which pressed the yields measured in US dollars,” he added.
As a result, supply price revenues 12.3%, yields 11.1% and occupancy factor decreased by 1.1 percentage points, the management said.
He added that despite the challenging macroeconomic context, Latam “continues to progress in its strategic initiatives” and that cost-saving initiatives “continue to deliver positive results, with total costs showing a decline of 0.7% despite the 6.7% increase in operations. ”
“We transported more than 18 million passengers during the first quarter, 800,000 more than in the same period last year. Cost-cutting initiatives continue to be a priority for Latam and will help us face a challenging first semester of the year, “the company’s management ruled.
Said that South American domestic markets continue to offer attractive growth opportunities and the disaggregated rate model implemented in 2017 has enabled Latam to compete efficiently with low-cost businesses.
“As a result we have continued to move more passengers and increase revenue generation. The expansion plan announced for the second half of the year 2019 in Colombia and the improvement of the connectivity of Latam Peru, especially from Lima, are examples of the potential growth that the company has identified in these markets, “he concluded.

Original source in Spanish