LAN seeks to push some of its recently acquired A320 delivery slots from 2011 to 2012 as positions in the currently sold-out 2012 A320 delivery book become available.
The Chile-based airline group placed orders in December 2009 for 30 additional A320 family aircraft for delivery from 2011 to 2016. In reporting fourth quarter earnings, the carrier today provided a delivery schedule for the now 45 A320 family aircraft it has on outstanding order. This schedule calls for eight aircraft deliveries this year, 15 in 2011, two in 2012, five in 2013, five in 2014, six in 2015 and four in 2016.
LAN VP North/Central America and Asia Luis Eduardo Riquelme told analysts today the carrier ideally would smooth out the expansion of its A320 fleet by taking fewer A320s in 2011 and more in 2012. But he explained that while Airbus has plenty of 2011 slots it does not have any more 2012 slots. "During the crisis many companies delayed their orders and Airbus has a lack of slots in 2012," he says.
As several of its 2011 delivery slots are for late in the year LAN views these aircraft more as 2012 growth aircraft rather than 2011 growth aircraft. Riquelme says LAN concluded taking some aircraft a few months earlier than the carrier wanted was a better scenario than waiting until 2013, when there are again plenty of delivery slots available.
Meanwhile LAN over the next couple of years will look for opportunities to swap some of its 2011 delivery slots with 2012 slots. "The idea is to try to move some of those [2011] aircraft into the following year as the slots are being freed by other airlines" Riquelme explains. "We're confident that will be possible."
But he is quick to add that LAN is comfortable taking the aircraft as scheduled if it is unable to swap the slots. He points out LAN is confident rapid expansion of the carrier's narrowbody fleet, which will be used to grow LAN's intra-Latin American network, is sustainable.
"We expect that the regional markets in Latin America will experience an important growth in the following years," Riquelme says. "We've seen high potential there. There's an opportunity to increase our operation and to stimulate markets."
LAN's confidence in the Latin American market drove its decision to order the 30 additional A320s. All these aircraft will be used as growth rather than replacement aircraft with the exception of five A318s which were sold as part of the negotiation concluded last year with Airbus.
Riquelme points out that all five of these A318s will come out of LAN's fleet in 2011, thereby partly offsetting the capacity gain caused by the 15 new A320s now scheduled to be delivered to LAN in 2011.
LAN currently operates a fleet of 53 A320 family aircraft, 15 of which are A318s. With 48 of these aircraft currently scheduled to remain in LAN's fleet plus the 45 additional aircraft on outstanding order, LAN's A320 family fleet is now slated to grow to 93 aircraft by the end of 2016.
LAN uses its A320 fleet to operate an extensive intra-Latin America network with regional international flights as well as domestic flights in four countries - Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Argentina. LAN credits the strength of these domestic passenger markets, which have continued to grow despite the global economic downturn, for the carrier's strong performance in 2009. It says the outlook for 2010 and beyond the for these domestic markets as well as short to medium-haul international flights within the region remains bright compared to markets in other regions of the world.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
