LATAM cargo takes a hit in December

In spite of the usual, end-of-year holiday surge, LATAM Airlines Group continued to report low cargo traffic for December 2015. The carrier said airfreight demand was particularly weak in Brazil in both domestic and international markets for the month.

Weaker seasonal exports from Latin America didn’t help. Cargo traffic for the group decreased 11.2 percent in December, compared to the December 2014 figures. The cargo load factor decreased 6.1 points, year-over-year, to 54.1 percent. The group is continuing to adjust cargo capacity through a reduced freighter operation, which resulted in a decline of 1.4 percent in cargo ATKs in December, y-o-y.

So far, the outlook for this year isn’t much of an improvement. Last week, LATAM said it expects capacity in the Brazilian market to fall between 6 and 9 percent in 2016. In a filing with Brazil’s security regulator, the carrier said its operating margin will likely be between 4.5 to 6.5 percent this year, according to Reuters.