LAN Airlines to increase flights between Sydney and Santiago in Chile

LAN Airlines is to increase flights from Sydney to Santiago, Chile, with a sixth weekly service from July, and aspirations for daily departures by early 2007.

The new flight, every Sunday from 2 July, is now available for sale, in addition to the current departures from Sydney every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday morning.

“There is strong and growing demand by both business and leisure travellers to fly from Australia to South and Central America,” said Lars Olofsson, National Sales Manager of World Aviation Systems, LAN’s Australian representative.

“By adding flights, not only does LAN increase capacity to meet growing tourism from Australia to Latin America,” said Mr Olofsson. “It also provides frequency, which is essential for the business travel market.”

From its primary hub in Santiago, the LAN group serves more than 40 destinations throughout South and Central America.

The carrier also offers flights from Santiago to the increasingly-popular destination of Havana, Cuba, and to Easter Island.

LAN Airlines flight LA 800 departs Sydney every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10.15am, arriving in Santiago at 12.10pm the same day - a journey of approximately 16 hours. The new Sunday flight will also follow this schedule.

The return service, flight LA801, leaves Santiago at 11.15 pm, arriving in Sydney at 8.40am - a journey of approximately 17 hours and 15 minutes. The flights operate via Auckland in both directions.

All LAN Airlines flights from Australia are operated with 259-seat Airbus A340-300 aircraft, with personal ‘on demand’ video for every passenger in each of the three classes.

The Sydney - Santiago flights are code-shared with fellow oneworld alliance member Qantas, which enables LAN Airlines to attract passengers from throughout Australia to connect with its Sydney departures, as well as providing onward domestic flights for passengers arriving in Sydney from South America.

Members of the Qantas frequent flyer programme can also earn loyalty points by flying with any of the five airlines in the LAN Group - LAN Chile, LAN Peru, LAN Ecuador, LAN Express and the newly-formed LAN Argentina.

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