LATAM Airlines Group and Airbus are ready to restart aircraft deliveries this month. The South American company is looking to receive the first Airbus A320neo, registration number PR-XBI, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and LATAM’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in 2020.

The seventh aircraft in Brazil

After more than two years, LATAM is ready to receive a new narrowbody Airbus jetliner by the end of June. This incoming aircraft is part of the purchase order with Airbus for 70 new A320neo units, to be delivered between 2022 and 2028.

This aircraft will be the seventh of this model in LATAM Brazil’s fleet and the 14th overall of the LATAM Group. The last factory-new aircraft delivery from Airbus to the South American company took place in December 2019.

Harley Meneses, LATAM Brazil’s Operations Director, said,

“The incorporation of one more A320neo aircraft by LATAM is fully aligned with the strategy of expanding our efficiency and competitiveness. This aircraft features the latest generation engines, sharklets, and an innovative cabin, being the most comfortable, fuel-efficient, and environmentally friendly narrowbody aircraft.”

The aircraft will have a capacity for 174 passengers in a single cabin configuration.

LATAM Airlines Brazil currently has a fleet composed of 143 aircraft, including 125 narrowbody jets.

Sustainability efforts

LATAM Brazil's new aircraft, which will arrive from Airbus' Toulouse (France) factory by the end of this month and will be one of 70 A320neo family aircraft ordered by the manufacturer to modernize and increase the efficiency of its fleet, as well as improving the airline’s sustainability efforts.

The company currently aims to offset 50% of its domestic emissions by 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2050. Besides adding new generation aircraft, LATAM is launching other initiatives to become carbon-neutral, including using Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF).

The A320neo employs more efficient engines and has aerodynamic improvements and technologies that provide 20% lower fuel consumption, with a 50% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions and 50% reduction in noise pollution. The aircraft is also equipped with software that reduces annual CO2 emissions by more than 60,000 tons by optimizing its landing trajectory.

Additionally, LATAM’s older A320 planes have reached the end of their economic life cycle. The airline will sell them, or they will undergo a process of dismantling their parts.

Currently, the LATAM group has a fleet of 299 Boeing (models 767, 777, and 787) and Airbus (models A321, A320, A320neo, and A319) aircraft. In addition, LATAM Cargo Chile, LATAM Cargo Colombia, and LATAM Cargo Brazil also have a combined fleet of 14 freighter aircraft, which will be gradually expanded to a total of 21 freighter aircraft by 2023.

LATAM’s latest Chapter 11 update

During the weekend, LATAM announced it had signed debt commitment letters with different financial entities, securing an exit financing from its Chapter 11 process. LATAM signed commitment letters with entities such as JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Goldman Sachs Lending Partners LLC, and Barclays Bank PLC, among others.

The exit finance commitment letters will provide a new debt of US$2.25 billion and a new credit facility of US$500 million, plus US$1.17 billion in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing.

The airline is currently awaiting the ruling of the United States Court regarding its Reorganization Plan and expects to emerge from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process during the second half of 2022.