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Peruvian airline LanPeru has been grounded by Peru's government after a court ruled that it had broken foreign ownership rules.
Thousands of tourists are likely to be stranded by the action which the government
The airline was ordered to be grounded by a court in the southern city of Arequipa in response to a lawsuit filed in June 2004 by a small domestic airline, Aviandina, which has now gone out of business. Aviandina claimed that LanPeru had broken the law by not having the requisite 30% of Peruvian capital invested in it.
LanPeru's president said that he expects the ruling to be overturned quickly and the Peruvian government is also appealing against the judgement. The government warned that the suspension of LanPeru could damage exporters who are leading the country's economic revival, reports Reuters.
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