Latin America's largest airline, LATAM Airlines, reported losses of some $692m in Q3 on Tuesday, as the indebted company said it was still battling challenges from the coronavirus pandemic. LATAM's total revenue climbed to $1.31b in the July-September quarter, an increase of 156% compared with the same period last year, but only around half the level compared with before the pandemic struck in early 2020. "Despite the pandemic, which is not over yet and that is still having an impact, we have managed to close a third quarter with better operational performance in all businesses," Finance VP Ramiro Alfonsín said. The result was supported by a better performance in the domestic travel market and solid cargo business, balancing weaker performance on international routes hit by global travel restrictions that are still in flux. The operating capacity for the quarter averaged close to half the pre-pandemic level and the airline said it expected to reach around 65% of that level by the end of the year. Alfonsín said he expected the airline's key Brazilian operation to recover to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021 or early 2022. In May 2020, LATAM filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, due to the impact of the restrictions related to the pandemic. Alfonsín said on Tuesday that the airline would present the reorganization plan this month. "Now we are finalizing the last details of our reorganization plan, for that we are meeting with stakeholders and we hope to present by November 26," he said. <br/>
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Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes reported Tuesday a net loss of 884.6m reais ($160.54m) for Q3 as traffic remained below pre-pandemic levels. That compared with a loss of 872m reais a year earlier and the company said that while demand for air travel continued to pick up in Brazil, it has still only reached 53% of pre-pandemic levels. Gol said that including losses from the steep depreciation of the Brazilian real and non-recurring items, its quarterly net loss totalled 2.53b reais, widening from a loss of 1.72b reais a year earlier. The group's net revenue totaled 1.9b reais in Q3, up 96.4% year-on-year, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at 464.7m reais, a 63.6% rise. The airline said it expects capacity to grow 29% in Q4 year-on-year on the back of higher vaccination rates, Brazil's summer traveling season and the resumption of international flights. "We expect a growth in sales through the end of the year and are confident that the trend will continue into 2022," CE Paulo Kakinoff said in a securities filing. The airline's liquidity is expected to reach 3.8b reais by the end of the year, from a total liquidity of 2.08b reais in Q3. Net debt is seen at 15.8b reais, versus 15.5b reais for the quarter ended in September.<br/>
Gulf carrier Kuwait Airways is in talks with Airbus to amend a previous order to change the type of aircraft it agreed to buy in a deal announced in 2014, Chairman Ali Aldakhan told a press conference on Tuesday. CE Ma'an Razoq later said that the state-owned airline was now seeking aircraft capable of operating longer, non-stop flights so it could expand in Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia and North America. "To reach these goals, there must be changes in (the types of aircraft)" Razoqi said, adding the financial cost of the Airbus deal would remain the same. The airline in 2014 agreed to order 25 aircraft - 10 wide-body A350-900s and 15 narrow-body A320neos. The deal was later expanded in 2018 to 28 jets, Aldakhan said without providing further details, including which jets it was looking to swap. Airbus declined to comment. Chairman Aldakhan also told the press conference that Kuwait Airways did not take any financial aid from the government during the coronavirus pandemic, and later said that it is aiming to achieve a balanced budget by the end of 2025.<br/>
Slovenia's Ministry of Economic Development and Technology received proposals from six airlines to establish a new flag carrier - or a base for an existing airline catering to the local market - based out of Ljubljana but rejected all of them, vowing to continue looking for a better offer. "All meetings were informative and proposed solutions that would not have financial consequences for the ministry or the state of Slovenia... We examined all the received proposals at the ministry and also responded to them. The proposals varied widely in terms of the destinations to be covered by the carriers, the number of frequencies to each destination, and the types of aircraft to be operated by the new airline. So far, Slovenia has not accepted any offer," the ministry told Sierra5, a Slovenian aviation news website. The ministry underlined that it is still soliciting bids, hoping for an offer that would be more favourable to the state and compliant with European Union competition laws. While it did not name the airlines involved in the bids, they were reportedly Croatia Airlines, Wizz Air, Air Dolomiti, VallJet, and Solinair, as well as an unnamed Middle Eastern carrier that submitted its bid more recently. Croatia Airlines proposed basing some of its DHC-8-Q400s out of Ljubljana in 2020. In turn, cargo specialist Solinair considered launching a passenger subsidiary, Air Slovenia, also with a fleet of DHC-8-Q400s. Ultimately, neither of the two carriers progressed.<br/>