Junior creditors of LATAM Airlines Group SA are challenging its proposed reorganization plan, saying it improperly benefits the carrier's existing shareholders, such as Delta Air Lines, at their expense, Reuters reported. Objections were filed on Monday in Manhattan bankruptcy court ahead of a May 17 hearing at which LATAM’s lawyers will ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Garrity to approve the proposal. The airline is seeking to raise $5.4 billion through its plan to exit chapter 11, which it filed two years ago as world travel halted amid the COVID-19 pandemic. If approved, the plan would put a group of creditors including Sixth Street Partners in control of the company. The committee representing unsecured creditors in the case has long opposed the airline’s restructuring strategy and has frequently urged it to consider alternative sources of financing. In an objection filed on Monday, the committee accused LATAM of conducting “a fundamentally flawed process” that violates bankruptcy law by elevating the rights of shareholders. It argued that the plan offers shareholders, including Delta and Qatar Airways, overly beneficial treatment in the form of discounted equity options and an "outsized role" in LATAM's corporate governance.
