LATAM to phase-out all A350-900s

LATAM Airlines has decided to retire its total fleet of eleven A350-900s. The aircraft will be taken off the fleet immediately and had already been parked due to the Corona-pandemic. The retirement is part of the airline's reorganisation under Chapter 11-bankruptcy protection.

Originally, TAM had ordered 25 A350s, which were split between seventeen A350-900s and eight -1000s. The order was placed before the merger with LAN Chile. Last year, LATAM reached a deal with Delta Air Lines and Airbus, in which it sold ten of its remaining orders for the A350 to Delta, which are now on the books as -900s. This leaves LATAM with two remaining A350-1000 open orders as thirteen A350s have been delivered to LATAM.

LATAM took delivery of its first A350-900 in 2016, so the fleet is very young. With this decision, LATAM's long-haul fleet will only consist of Boeings, with 28 B767-300ERs, ten B787-8s, twelve B787-9s and ten B777-300ERs.

Photo by Clément Alloing via Flickr.