Chilean airline LAN said on Tuesday it signed a new four-year collective wage agreement with its pilots' union, part of a plan to negotiate early and head off any specter of union action.

The deal comes after LAN's subsidiary LAN Express clinched a deal with its union and its cargo arm LAN Cargo struck an agreement with the union in December.

LAN said the deals involved more than 600 pilots and would help it remain competitive within Chile's airline industry.

"With the signing of the collective agreement between LAN Airlines and the company's pilot union, the process of early, non-mandatory collective negotiations with all LAN's crew leaders is complete," LAN said in a statement.

LAN has affiliates in Ecuador, Peru and Argentina. It accounts for more than half of Chile's international passenger traffic and nearly three-quarters of its domestic traffic.

LAN's cargo network covers about 75 destinations worldwide. It has operations in Chile, Brazil and Mexico and has been given the green light to set up an affiliate in Colombia.