LATAM Airlines selects Nordisk Ultralite for ULD fleet replacement

Nordisk Aviation Products reported its agreement with LATAM Airlines to supply 3,517 UltraLite Unit Load Devices (ULDs) to replace the airline’s entire stock of cargo containers. The deal, valued at $9.3m, supports LATAM’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions and will save the airline an estimated 1 million gallons in fuel, or as much as $3.2m a year. Nordisk, a subsidiary of AAR CORP., uses Kevlar, a synthetic fiber and steel substitute, to produce the lightest weight ULDs on the market, as much as 30% lighter than aluminum containers. TAM Airlines, now part of LATAM, procured its first Nordisk UltraLite AKE (LD3) containers in 2010. Since then, the airline has bought more than 700 Nordisk UltraLite containers in AKE and DQF configuration.