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LATAM will fly daily from Sydney and Melbourne to Santiago starting later this year.
The Chilean carrier will increase its non-stop Sydney-Santiago flights from three to seven days a week starting in November, with Melbourne to follow in December. Both schedules will run until March next year to coincide with the South American summer peak.
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The move comes as industry data has shown a 12 per cent increase in bookings from Australia to South America since the beginning of the year, said Thibaud Morand, general manager for EMEA, Asia and South Pacific at LATAM Airlines Group.
“By offering daily departures from both Sydney and Melbourne, we’re giving our customers more flexibility, choice and convenience – whether they’re heading off on holiday or travelling for business,” he said.
“These enhanced connections also provide a more efficient and accessible option for corporate travellers needing to reach key cities across South America, further strengthening LATAM’s position as the leading carrier between the two continents.
“Plus, thanks to convenient late morning and early afternoon departures, travellers from all corners of Australia can arrive in Sydney or Melbourne in the morning and seamlessly connect to our new direct services to South America the same day—no overnight layovers required.”
LATAM restarted its non-stop Sydney-Santiago flights in October last year following the success of its service via Auckland.
Speaking to Australian Aviation in November, Chris Ellis, then LATAM’s country manager for Oceania, said the existing route from Sydney to Santiago via Auckland had been popular with travellers, and the Australian market was growing.
“Based on available travel data of Australians’ outbound travel for holidays and other purposes, we can see that travel to South America has increased by 34 per cent (January-June 24 vs January-June 23), with Brazil, Chile and Argentina seeing the biggest increase,” he said.
“With travel numbers returning to pre-pandemic level and even increasing, we expect to see interest and curiosity for South America. To meet this demand and take advantage of Australians’ appetite to travel, we wanted to make it even easier, quicker and more convenient for them to choose South America as their next travel destination.
“The return of the direct route means a flight time of under 13 hours, which is a 4-hour reduction from our Auckland stopover service. The flight will be operating four times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, offering travellers increased flexibility when booking their next trip.”
LATAM is competing with Qantas, which had the route to itself post-pandemic, with BITRE data from the Department of Transport last year showing the Flying Kangaroo boasted load factors of 90 per cent outbound – its fourth-highest for an international destination.
