LATAM Airlines crew union to end strike, shares rise

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - The union of cabin workers for LAN Express, a subsidiary of Chile-based LATAM Airlines (NYSE: LTM) group, said on Thursday it would unilaterally end a more than two-week strike that had led to the cancellation of 2,000 flights.

The 1,000-member Cabin Crew Union of LAN Express, which had negotiated for more than two months with the airline, the region's largest carrier, said in a statement it would explain its reasons in a news conference later on Thursday.

LATAM, meanwhile, said the protest could not officially end until the termination of the strike was approved by authorities. "Unfortunately, the way in which the union would have ended the strike does not comply with the law," the company said.

Shares of LATAM Airlines were up 1.77 percent at 9,433 pesos on the Santiago Stock Exchange in early trading.

LATAM, which said the strike cost the company from $1 million to $1.5 million per day, was created in 2012 through a merger of Chile's LAN and Brazil's TAM. The company, headquartered in Santiago, has operating units in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood, Antonio de la Jara and Felipe Iturrieta; Editing by Susan Thomas and Dan Grebler)

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