LATAM Airlines Group and its subsidiaries, the leading airline group in Latin America, have reported its preliminary monthly traffic statistics for March 2015 compared to March 2014.

System passenger traffic decreased by 0.5 per cent while capacity increased by 1.3 per cent.

As a result, the company’s load factor for the month decreased 1.4 points to 80.3 per cent.

International passenger traffic accounted for approximately 51 per cent of the month’s total passenger traffic.

Domestic passenger traffic in LATAM Airlines Group’s Spanish speaking operations - Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia - rose four per cent, while capacity increased by 3.5 per cent.

As a consequence, the domestic passenger load factor increased 0.4 points to 79.4 per cent.

Domestic passenger traffic in Brazil increased by 0.3 per cent, while capacity increased by 0.2 per cent.

As a consequence, the domestic Brazil passenger load factor increased 0.1 points to 78.9 per cent.

International passenger traffic decreased by 2.2 per cent, while capacity increased by 1.2 per cent.

Accordingly, the international passenger load factor for the month decreased 2.9 points to 81.4 per cent.

International traffic includes international operations of both LAN and TAM on regional and long haul routes.

Cargo traffic for LATAM Airlines Group decreased 10.8 per cent as capacity decreased 2.9 per cent.

As a consequence, the cargo load factor decreased 5.1 points to 56.8 per cent.

The decrease in cargo capacity is a result of reduced freighter operation.

Cargo traffic decrease was driven by weaker imports into Latin America.