LATAM Airlines Group S.A. is an airline holding company headquartered in Santiago, Chile. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States on 26 May 2020, due to economic problems attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation.
Who owns Latam Airlines?
Chile’s LAN-Chile and Brazil’s TAM Linhas Aéreas signed a non-binding agreement to merge on 13 August 2010, followed by a binding agreement on 19 January 2011,and papers to close the merger on 22 June 2012, with TAM Linhas Aéreas’ shareholders agreeing to the takeover by LAN Airlines. It is considered the largest airline company in Latin America with subsidiaries in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.
The agreement to establish LATAM was approved by Chilean authorities on 21 September 2011, with 11 restrictions. These included transferring four landing slots at São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport to competitors interested in operating flights to Santiago de Chile’s Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport.
Although LATAM Airlines’ headquarters are located in Chile, the carrier is an American depositary receipt and traded on both the Santiago Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange at the time of bankruptcy. The company’s stock ticker (LTMAQ) was delisted from the NYSE and later moved to the unregulated OTC Markets Pink on 12 June 2020.
