LATAM Airlines Group has entered into an agreement with Boeing to cancel outstanding orders for four B787-9s and one B777-200F, subject to the approval of the US Bankruptcy Court.
"As a result of the amendments, LATAM will maintain its purchase orders in respect of two B787-9 aircraft, with proposed delivery dates in December 2021. These arrangements contemplate that LATAM will have no further liability with regards to the terminated aircraft orders," the Latin American group said in its quarterly financial report.
The two parties reached the agreement on April 29, 2021, and the court hearing has been planned for May 19.
According to the details revealed in the group's petition to the US Bankruptcy Court, obligatory under its ongoing Chapter 11 proceedings, the four cancelled B787-9s were due for delivery in 2022 and 2023. The order was initially placed in 2007 by LAN Airlines (Santiago de Chile) and comprised twenty-six B787s, including ten B787-8s and sixteen -9s. All -8s were delivered to the airline between 2012 and 2014, while deliveries of the ten -9s commenced in 2015, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.
The airline continues to operate all ten B787-8s, and six of the ten -9s ordered directly from the manufacturer. The remaining four were retired in 2020, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows. However, LATAM Airlines also operates six B787-9s sourced from the order book of lessor ILFC (now AerCap).
In turn, the order for the B777 freighter was placed by TAM Linhas Aéreas (São Paulo Congonhas) in 2007, just before its merger with LAN. It was scheduled for delivery in 2024 and would have become the first B777 operated by LATAM Cargo Brasil.
LATAM Airlines Group itself ordered two B777-200Fs, which were delivered to LATAM Cargo Chile in 2012. However, the carrier subsequently transferred the aircraft to Southern Air in 2015 and 2018, respectively.
