LATAM Airlines reported total operating revenues of $3.3bn for the third quarter 2024, up 7.6% from last year. The company said the growth was primarily driven by a 6.3% increase in passenger revenues compared to the third quarter of last year.
Revenue growth had outpaced its operating expenses, which climbed 4.4% to $2.9bn. Net income totalled $302.5 million, up 30% from the same period last year. The company's EBITDA increased 15% to $791.5 million.
Cargo revenues increased 15.7% to $381 million.
As of the end of the quarter, total net debt was $5.1bn. Net debt to adjusted EBITDAR was 1.7x at the end of the quarter.
“LATAM has managed to reduce its debt, has almost no financial maturities in the next four years, has liquidity of approximately $3.6 billion,” said LATAM Airlines Group CFO Ramiro Alfonsin.
The airline's capacity was up 15.1%, while revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) were up 14.6%. Passenger load factor declined 0.4 percentage point to 84.9%. Revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) was down 7.7% to 7.0 cents. Cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) was down 9.3% to 7.0 cents.
The airline had 341 aircraft in its total fleet at the end of the period. It plans for 344 by the end of the year, 362 by the end of 2025, and 368 by the end of 2026.
Following the results, LATAM raised its full year 2024 guidance, expecting an adjusted EBITDAR of around $3bn to 3.15bn, up from $2.75bn-$3.05bn. LATAM said in its call it also anticipates strong demand in the near-term and does not expect the election of President Donald Trump to impact operations.