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 September 2014 compared to September 2013.

System passenger traffic increased by 2.6% while capacity increased by 1.0%. As a result, the Company's load factor for the month increased 1.3 points to 84.3%. International passenger traffic accounted for approximately 53% 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 7.3%, while capacity increased by 4.5%. As a consequence, the domestic passenger load factor increased 2.1 points to 80.9%.

Domestic passenger traffic in Brazil decreased by 1.4%, while capacity increased by 0.6%. As a consequence, the domestic Brazil passenger load factor decreased 1.6 points to 79.6%.

International passenger traffic increased by 3.7%, while capacity increased by 0.2%. Accordingly, the international passenger load factor for the month increased 3.0 points to 88.5%. International traffic includes international operations of both LAN and TAM on regional and long haul routes.

Cargo traffic for LATAM decreased 3.2% as capacity decreased 3.6%. As a consequence, the cargo load factor increased 0.2 points to 59.4%. The decrease in cargo capacity is a result of a reduced freighter operation in addition to decreased availability in the bellies of passenger aircraft. Cargo traffic decrease was driven by weaker imports into Latin America.