LATAM Airlines Group has announced an operating profit of $234.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2013, which represents an increase of 166 per cent compared to the $88.3 million achieved in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The operating margin for the group was 6.9 per cent, up 4.4 points compared to the same period in 2012.

The growth in operating margin can be attributed to significant improvement in the financial performance of domestic operations in Brazil, the rationalisation of capacity in international passenger operations, and continued synergies and efficiencies achieved since the integration of LAN and TAM.

For the full year 2013, LATAM Airlines Group operating profit was 643.9 million USD, representing an increase of 605 per cent compared with the overall results recorded in 2012.

The company continues to reap positive results from its strategy of streamlining international passenger capacity in Brazil and within domestic Spanish-speaking markets.

Capacity on international flights fell by 6.5 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2013, while passenger traffic increased by 0.8 per cent, resulting in a load factor of 84.3.

Improving the distribution of passenger slots obtained in Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo, represents an important step in consolidating Guarulhos Airport as the main hub for the group’s intercontinental flights.

LATAM continues its extensive fleet restructuring plan in order to meet the group’s requirements since the merger.

The group is reducing the types of aircraft in use in order to gradually remove the least efficient models and assign the most suitable aircraft to each one of its markets.

From the fourth quarter of 2013 and over the next 30 months, the company will gradually withdraw all A330, A340, B737, Q400 and Q200s models from its fleet.