Peru's airlines skirt ownership rules as lawmakers propose state rival

Peru’s top three airlines are operating with little or no Peruvian ownership despite a rule that local carriers be at least 30% owned by its nationals, company filings, court documents and interviews with industry officials show. Increased competition has lowered ticket prices for Peruvians in recent years, but it has also meant multinational carriers have driven locally-owned players out of business. Motivated by what lawmakers say is a lack of reinvestment in the country from its dominant foreign-controlled airlines, Peru’s Congress is analyzing a bill to create a state carrier. As of last year, 82% of Peru’s 13.8m domestic passengers flew either on LATAM Airlines Peru, Viva Air Peru or Sky Airline Peru, which are all foreign-owned and operate popular routes such as the Lima-Cuzco shuttle. But while LATAM Peru, the largest carrier, was for many years 30% Peruvian, just 0.39% remains in local hands after this year’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Chilean parent LATAM Airlines Group, court records show. And low-cost competitors Sky Airline Peru and Viva Air Peru, more recent entrants into the Peruvian market, only have non-Peruvian shareholders, company filings and interviews show. Aviation regulator DGAC confirmed in a statement that Peruvian citizens were required to own at least 30% of any domestic airline. <br/>