More dismal numbers from LATAM Cargo as RTKs slide

If there’s a “Latin America turnaround” happening, it sure didn’t manifest itself in LATAM Cargo’s books in the month of October, as the struggling cargo operator’s revenue tonne kilometers (RTKs) fell 2.9 percent, dragging the year-to-date total down to 1.5 percent.

LATAM Cargo is also cutting capacity, with year-over-year available tonne kilometers down 3.9 percent to a yearly decline of 7.8 percent.

On the positive side, the carrier’s load factor inched up once more this month by 0.6 percentage points, to 58.1 percent.

In April of this year, Cargo Facts reported that LATAM Cargo had appointed Andrés Bianchi as its new CEO, as part of an ongoing restructuring process. Under Bianchi’s leadership, LATAM said it would focus on increasing competitiveness through productivity enhancements and improvements to its product portfolio.

The middling results thus far lag well behind the region’s overall growth in cargo volumes, suggesting that LATAM’s turnaround has not yet materialized. IATA reported that first-half cargo for Latin America measured in FTKs had grown by 9.8 percent, year-over-year, suggesting that other carriers are capturing LATAM Cargo’s home market.