SANTIAGO, Chile, April 25 (Reuters) - Peru's flagship airline, Aero Continente, filed a lawsuit against the Chilean government on Thursday for damages allegedly caused by a court-ordered suspension of its Chilean operations in July 2001. A Chilean judge ordered the freeze after the state attorney's office accused the airline of drug-related money laundering. The court order was lifted two months later for lack of evidence. "We have presented the lawsuit because of the injustice suffered by the company. The damages are incalculable," Lupe Zevallos, chairman of the airline, told reporters after submitting the lawsuit in Santiago's main courthouse. The airline did not specify how much it was sueing for, leaving that up to the judge. Last year, Zevallos threatened to sue Chile for $1 billion but her lawyer signaled on Thursday the final amount would be much lower. "The figure will be determined by the judge, but it will be a significant amount. Several million dollars, I believe," said the airline's lawyer Julio Disi. "The only thing I can say is that for each airplane detained, there was a loss of $3 million," he added. Aero Continente was forced to park five airplanes in Chile. The Chilean court also arrested four top executives of Aero Continente, closed its 15 offices in Chile and froze bank accounts of $37 million. Although the court suspension lasted only two months, the airline was only able to partially renew flights in the final quarter of 2001 with a fraction of its previous staff. Financial troubles led it to dismiss 400 of its 600 employees last year. The firm's problems were further aggravated when Chilean aviation officials detected safety problems with some of its aircraft, temporarily grounding them. The airline's legal action against the Chilean state comes one month after a Peruvian court absolved Aero Continente's founder Fernando Zevallos -- sister of Lupe Zevallos -- of similar charges of drug money laundering. Aero Continente, known for its aggressive pricing strategy for conquering new markets, is one of Latin America's fastest-growing airlines. It has a 60 percent market share in Peru. The company has a 4 percent market share in Chile, which is dominated by Lan Chile (LAN) (LFL). ©2002 Reuters Limited.