LATAM Airlines Group and the Union of LATAM Pilots (SPL) in Chile reached an agreement on Wednesday, cooling off the possibility of a strike which was set to begin on Thursday, the Union said in a statement, Simple Flying reported. Having recently emerged from its chapter 11 bankruptcy process, LATAM quickly faced a new challenge, the possibility of an industrial action taken by its team of pilots. On Nov. 2, with a 99% overwhelming majority, the pilots in the company voted in favor of a strike.
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Latam Airlines and its main pilots’ union in Chile have reached an agreement staving off a threatened strike, the union said in a statement on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Union of Latam Pilots (SPL), which says it represents 313 of the airline's nearly 500 pilots, voted almost unanimously last week to begin a strike, leaving a window for a mediation process mandated by Chilean law.
LATAM Airlines, South America's largest carrier, reported on Tuesday a narrower third-quarter net loss of $296 million, the company said in a statement, partly hit by high fuel prices, Reuters reported. The Chile-based airline's quarterly loss this year compares to a $694 million loss during the same three-month period last year. LATAM's revenue during the July to September period rose 97% to total $2.587 billion compared to the third quarter last year. The airline, created by the 2012 merger of Chile's LAN with Brazilian rival TAM, operates units in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Peru.
The largest pilots union of Latam Airlines in Chile voted to strike on Wednesday, a day before the company said it was planning on concluding its exit from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The Union of Latam Pilots (SPL) said it represents 313 of Latam Airlines's approximately 500 pilots and that 99% of its members voted to approve the strike.
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LATAM Airlines, the biggest carrier in Latin America, said it plans to conclude its exit from bankruptcy on Nov. 3, Reuters reported. "This process will allow the group to emerge more agile, with a more competitive cost structure, adequate liquidity to face the future, with approximately $10.3 billion in equity, and close to $6.9 billion in debt," the company said in a statement late on Friday. LATAM filed for chapter 11 in 2020 after airline travel was hammered during the pandemic, and it won court approval that June.
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Chile’s central bank raised its interest rate by 50 basis points, saying borrowing costs have reached the highest level of its tightening cycle and that they will remain steady to ensure inflation eases to target, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers voted unanimously to lift borrowing costs to 11.25% late on Wednesday, as expected by most analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In a statement, board members reaffirmed their commitment “to conduct monetary policy with flexibility” to put inflation on a path to their 3% goal.
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LATAM Airlines detailed a financing plan on Wednesday that the company hopes will finalize its exit from bankruptcy in the first week of November, Reuters reported. The company filed for chapter 11 in 2020 after airline travel plummeted during the pandemic and won court approval that June. The reorganization plan would inject about $8 billion into the airline through a combination of capital increase, issue of convertible bonds and new debt.
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Chile estimates it will issue $12 billion in total debt next year and the largest budget increases will be in social protection and science and technology, Finance Minister Mario Marcel told Reuters on Thursday. "So we're cutting (issuance) by half, reflecting the fact that we will have an overall balance that will be considerably stronger than what people thought we would have," said Marcel, adding most of it will be to refinance maturing issues. The minister is confident Chile will soon make a dent on inflation, running at double digits.
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LATAM Airlines yesterday turned back two challenges to its bankruptcy reorganization plan, putting the carrier a step closer to emerging from chapter 11 after seeking protection from creditors in the early months of the pandemic, Reuters reported. LATAM said in a statement it was pleased by a U.S. bankruptcy court's decision confirming its reorganization plan in which two groups of creditors lost their appeals. LATAM, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020, won court approval to exit chapter 11 in June.
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Chile’s record current account deficit will keep the peso under pressure long after the central bank’s $25 billion intervention program is done and dusted, Bloomberg News reported. The deficit swelled to 8.5% of gross domestic product in the second quarter, the highest for at least two decades. That was roughly triple the year-earlier figure and represented $6.6 billion leaving the country in just three months. Not only is that rate of outflow unprecedented this century, it also comes at the worst possible moment as financing costs rise worldwide.
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