LATAM is the leading carrier in South America, with a network of over 150 destinations and five bases - Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The airline offers flights to Europe from its three hubs in Lima, Santiago de Chile and Peru. Sao Paulo. It offers connections to around a hundred destinations on the sub-continent.
How are LATAM's flights to Europe resuming more than a year after the start of the pandemic?
Thibaud Morand - Before the pandemic, LATAM served half a dozen European destinations in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and the UK. We have gradually resumed our traffic. Starting with Spain, for obvious geopolitical and historical reasons, with our flights on Madrid. Then also in Germanywhere demand remains strong. We now return to Paris. For the time being, our flights to Lisbon and London remain suspended due to health restrictions. However, we are fairly optimistic about the recovery of our network. In addition to Portugal and the UK, we could add another destination in Europe by 2022. A priori Barcelona or Milan. By winter 2021, we want to offer at least one daily flight from each of our European ports of call.
What are the reasons for a return to Paris when travel conditions are still not in place for French people wishing to visit South America?
Thibaud Morand - The idea was to return to Paris for a long time, but we had to postpone this return twice. In fact, it was the reopening of borders to travellers vaccinated in France that motivated us. We are certain that the French will soon benefit from similar travel restrictions. Which means we need to be ready to respond immediately to demand. So we're going to relaunch our Boeing 787-8 flights on 5 July in two-class configuration. We propose three weekly frequencies on the Paris CDG-Sao Paulo-Santiago route. With a gradual increase to five flights a week over the summer and a daily flight from November. In parallel in Paris, we are relaunching the Madrid-Lima route in July.
Business travel is likely to find it difficult to return to pre-pandemic traffic levels
Do you expect business traffic to pick up?
Thibaud Morand - Business travel will probably find it difficult to return to pre-pandemic traffic levels. But we sense that there is a need for companies to revisit the market, and I'm more optimistic about the medium term. Our product is in fact ideally positioned to meet demand. The business class was reconfigured at the beginning of 2020 and offers 30 seats in Paris.
Is LATAM working on an Economy Premium product?
Thibaud Morand - No, not for the moment, although we have studied the principle. For the time being, we prefer improving business class. We also offer an 'Economy +' product on our intercontinental, regional and domestic routes. On intercontinental routes, this involves a few rows at the front of the aircraft offering more legroom.
LATAM is very involved in environmental protection and the sustainable development of air transport. What is the difference with other airlines concerned by the same issue?
Thibaud Morand - For many years, LATAM has sought to be a model corporate citizen in terms of both the environment and social justice. For example, we are working to produce biofuel even though we know that this is a project that will take several decades to complete. We are also aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050. And we have launched a programme to reduce our plastic waste. Single-use plastic will be banned from our aircraft by 2023 and plastic will be completely eliminated by 2027. Above all, we know that we have an educational and promotional role to play. We devote a lot of time to explaining our actions to passengers and seek to get them involved in bio-diversity and environmental protection. For example, they can take part in projects that we set up. Involving our passengers is perhaps what sets us apart from others in this field.
