OREANDA-NEWS. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. and its subsidiaries, (“LATAM Airlines Group” or “the Company”) (NYSE: LFL / IPSA: LAN / Bovespa: LATM33), the leading airline group in Latin America, today reported its preliminary monthly traffic statistics for July 2014 compared to July 2013.

System passenger traffic decreased by 1.4% while capacity decreased by 3.2%. As a result, the Company's load factor for the month increased 1.6 points to 84.7%. International passenger traffic accounted for approximately 51% of the month's total passenger traffic.

Domestic passenger traffic in LATAM Airlines Group's Spanish speaking operations (Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia) rose 5.0%, while capacity increased by 2.1%. As a consequence, the domestic passenger load factor increased 2.2 points to 80.9%.

Domestic passenger traffic in Brazil decreased by 7.8%, while capacity decreased by 7.0%. As a consequence, the domestic Brazil passenger load factor decreased 0.7 points to 83.8%.

International passenger traffic increased by 1.3%, while capacity decreased by 2.2%. Accordingly, the international passenger load factor for the month increased 3.0 points to 86.6%. International traffic includes international operations of both LAN and TAM on regional and long haul routes.

Cargo traffic for LATAM decreased 0.4% as capacity decreased 5.3%. As a consequence, the cargo load factor increased 2.8 points to 57.4%. The decrease in cargo capacity is a result of a decreased availability in the bellies of passenger aircraft in addition to a reduced freighter operation. Cargo traffic decrease was driven by weaker imports into Latin America.