Latam Airlines plans cuts to A350/787 orders as Brazilian traffic slumps

Latam Airlines said a slump in Brazilian traffic means it’s likely to cancel or delay some of the 53 wide-body jet orders placed by constituent units before a 2012 merger. Latam is reviewing some of the 27 Airbus A350s going to TAM and 26 Boeing 787 Dreamliners for Lan. The lease of a further 6 787s from AerCap Holdings could also be at risk. “Tam bought the A350 10 years ago and we bought the 787 7 years ago,” Latam CE Enrique Cueto said, adding that Latam had expected Brazil’s economy to grow about 4% a year, when it’s actually shrinking by that degree. With approximately 150 aircraft currently deployed in Brazil, Latam needs to shrink the fleet there about 10% this year to match capacity to demand, with a 2% cut due in 2017, he said. <br/>