LATAM Airlines Group has filed a request with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to authorise the sale of nine B767-300ERs, operated by LATAM Airlines Brasil (JJ, São Paulo Congonhas), to Jetran.
The application involves:
- PT-MOB (msn 40592),
- PT-MOC (msn 41746),
- PT-MSS (msn 41748),
- PT-MOA (msn 41995),
- PT-MOE (msn 41996),
- PT-MOF (msn 41997),
- PT-MSW (msn 42213),
- PT-MSX (msn 41993), and
- PT-MSZ (msn 41994).
All of them were delivered to LAN Airlines (Santiago de Chile) prior to its merger with TAM Linhas Aéreas in 2012 and 2013 as one of the last passenger B767s to be produced. They are financed through finance lease agreements with Tagua Leasing LLC and Golondrina Leasing LLC, two Delaware-based special purpose vehicles. LATAM disclosed that the leases are supported by EXIM Bank (United States of America).
The carrier is selling all nine B767-300(ER)s together with their General Electric CF6-80C2BB6 engines.
LATAM said that if the court approves the transaction, it would first buy-out the aircraft from the two SPVs before selling them on to Jetran. The SPVs have tentatively consented to the sale whose value was not publicly disclosed. However, LATAM has said that it has already received a USD14.175 million deposit from Jetran.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, following the execution of the sale, LATAM Airlines Brasil will continue to own four more B767-300(ER)s. A further 15 units owned by the holding are currently with LATAM Airlines Perú (although they remain registered in Chile).
The plan to trim LATAM's fleet of B767-300(ER)s by almost a third follows the group's earlier decision to phase out all eleven A350-900s. The carrier also recently cancelled four out of its six outstanding orders for B787-9s and its only firm order for a B777-200F. However, it is simultaneously contuining to grow its fleet of B767-based freighters, having recently placed a new order for six incremental B767-300ER(BCF)s.
