Coronavirus: air transport broken down, LATAM will cut jobs

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All airlines are suffering from traffic restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic and in Latin America, later affected, LATAM-Airlines, born from the merger of the Chilean LAN and the Brazilian TAM announces a plan to cut 1,400 jobs. 

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It is the first airline operating on the South American continent. LATAM Airlines serves 145 destinations in 26 countries and is directly present in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Before the pandemic, it operated around 1,400 daily flights, carrying more than 74 million passengers a year.

The company announced Friday the loss of 1,400 jobs at its subsidiaries in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, due to the drastic reduction in its operations due to the coronavirus pandemic. "  The impacts of the Covid-19 are profound and it is inevitable to reduce the size of the LATAM group to protect its medium-term viability  ," said LATAM Airlines group CEO Roberto Alvo in a press release issued by the company, adding that it was a "  difficult decision  ," reports AFP.

Another Latin American company, Colombian Avianca, the second in Latin America, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on May 10 to reorganize its debt "due to the unforeseeable impact of the pandemic". According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Latin American airlines will lose $ 15 billion in revenue this year, in the worst crisis in the history of the sector.

► Read also : Air France-KLM plans job cuts after heavy losses in the first quarter

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