LanChile S.A., Chile’s largest domestic and international airline, reported its preliminary August monthly and accumulated traffic statistics and punctuality indicators.

The Company reported that its system passenger traffic for August decreased 7.0% while capacity decreased 11.1%. As a result, the Company’s load factor increased 3.0 points to 68.2%.

International passenger traffic for August decreased 6.5%, while international passenger capacity decreased 13.6%. Accordingly, the international passenger load factor for the month rose 5.4 points to 71.5%. Domestic passenger traffic for August decreased 8.9% as capacity decreased 2.0%. Accordingly, the domestic load factor for the month fell 4.3 points to 57.2%.
Total cargo traffic for August increased 17.8% primarily as a result of the new freighter operations to Europe and increased perishable traffic from Latin America primarily to the United States. Cargo capacity for August increased 5.8% due to the increased use of 747-200 wet-leases and increased freighter operations resulting from the inclusion, in December 1999, of an additional 767-300 freighter in the Company’s fleet.

In addition, for the month of August, 87.9% of the Company’s total flights left on time, based on a fifteen-minute standard (considering all departures leaving up to fifteen minutes of the scheduled departure time as “on time”). This represented a 2.2 point decrease as compared to August 1999 and was a result of unusually heavy fog at the Santiago airport.

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