Who Really Controls LATAM, South America’s Biggest Airline

Chile · Aviation · Corporate Control

A tight pact among two global carriers and one Chilean family decides who runs LATAM Airlines, even though the company’s shares trade publicly in Santiago and New York.

LATAM is the giant of South American aviation, the carrier most travellers in the region end up flying. It operates from three main gateways, São Paulo in Brazil, Lima in Peru and Santiago in Chile, and reaches deep into North America and Europe.

Yet for a company whose shares trade publicly in both Santiago and New York, the question of who actually controls it has a surprisingly concentrated answer. Real power runs through a small, coordinated group.

The LATAM Airlines ownership bloc

Three names sit at the centre. Two are foreign airlines, Delta of the United States and Qatar Airways of the Gulf, each holding a stake of around a tenth of the company.

The third is the Cueto family of Chile, the clan that helped build the airline and still keeps an influential minority holding. Together these three signed a binding shareholders’ agreement, a pact disclosed in filings with the United States securities regulator.

That agreement is the key to the whole structure. Chilean law follows a one-share, one-vote rule, but the pact lets the three partners act as a single coordinated voting bloc.

In practice the bloc directs the things that matter most, including who becomes chief executive, how money is spent and where the airline is heading. The board is chaired by Ignacio Cueto Plaza, a name that signals where the family’s influence still rests.

How a bankruptcy reshaped the register

This shape is recent. LATAM filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in 2020 as the pandemic grounded its fleet, and it emerged from that process in late 2022.

The reorganisation was brutal for old shareholders. A huge capital increase and the conversion of debt into equity diluted previous owners and handed large slabs of the company to creditors and the supporting investors who backed the rescue.

The result is a register dominated by institutions rather than the retail-heavy ownership of the past. By 2025 institutional investors held well over half of the freely traded shares.

Why the cap table keeps shifting

The turnaround has been striking. Strong, record-setting results lifted the share price and rewarded the distressed-debt funds that had stepped in during the Chapter Eleven restructuring.

Many of those funds have since cashed out, selling into the rally and leaving the register. As they go, the coordinated partners have tended to hold firm or add to their positions, tightening the control bloc further.

For a foreign investor, that is the central fact about LATAM Airlines ownership. Buying the stock means backing a well-run regional champion whose strategic decisions are set by a small alliance, not by the wider market.

The financial backdrop explains the appeal. LATAM posted net income comfortably above nine hundred million dollars in 2024 and has pushed to strengthen its balance sheet and cut its debt load.

Its network is the other half of the story. The carrier links its South American gateways to the main United States entry points and to Europe, giving the controlling partners a prize that reaches well beyond the region itself.

Who controls LATAM Airlines ownership today?

Effective control rests with a coordinated bloc of Delta Air Lines, Qatar Airways and Chile’s Cueto family, bound together by a shareholders’ agreement. Delta and Qatar each hold close to a tenth of the shares, while the Cueto family retains an influential minority and chairs the board.

How did LATAM’s ownership change after bankruptcy?

LATAM emerged from United States bankruptcy protection in late 2022 after a large capital increase and a debt-for-equity conversion. That heavily diluted old shareholders and shifted the register toward creditors and institutional investors.

Why does the control structure matter to investors?

Because strategy at South America’s biggest airline is set by a small, aligned group rather than a dispersed shareholder base. That offers stability but limits the say of ordinary minority investors over the company’s direction.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the main owners that control LATAM Airlines?

LATAM Airlines is controlled through a binding shareholder pact among three parties: Delta Air Lines, Qatar Airways, and Chile's founding Cueto family. Delta and Qatar each hold close to a tenth of the shares, while the Cueto family maintains an influential minority position.

Why does LATAM have such a concentrated ownership structure?

The current ownership structure was forged when LATAM emerged from a sweeping United States bankruptcy in late 2022, which wiped out the airline's previous owners. The rescue-era arrangement brought in Delta and Qatar Airways as key stakeholders alongside the Cueto family.

Where does LATAM Airlines operate its main hubs?

LATAM Airlines, South America's largest airline group, operates from three main hubs: São Paulo in Brazil, Lima in Peru, and Santiago in Chile. The carrier also reaches into North America and Europe from these gateways.

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