MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lan Chile begins flights to Ushuaia

Lan Chile began this Wednesday three weekly flights to Ushuaia in Argentine Tierra del Fuego, with stops in Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas.

Paola Contardo Lan Regional Manager said the flights leave Santiago, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 08:30 AM, returning from Ushuaia at 15:15 PM.

Inaugural flight 997, with an Airbus 319, (136 seats) carried 109 passengers with seven boarding in Punta Arenas and arrived at 14:30 PM.

The Lan flight left Ushuaia with 56 passengers, most with overseas connections from Santiago. The round trip costs 159 US dollars plus boarding tax approximately 16 US dollars.

In related news Lan revealed that it's looking for an Atlantic coast hub, either in Argentina or Brazil to keep developing the company as the leading carrier in South America.

"Our priority is Latinamerica; we've set eyes on Argentina and Brazil, which is our missing leg. We have the Pacific with Peru and Ecuador, the Caribbean with Dominican Republic, and for the next two years the Atlantic is our target", said Sebastián Piñera main shareholder and president of the board.

Although Mr. Piñera refused to reveal commercial information, it's well known that the Brazilian airline Varig is facing hard times and is waiting for a two billion US dollars rescue package, which the Brazilian government has yet to approve.

Brazilian aviation sources admitted that Lan is not officially involved in Varig's rescue plan, but "has shown an interest".

Lan Chile already is involved in another promising market Asia: it recently signed a commercial alliance with Korean Airlines, and "we're looking for complementation agreements with other Asian companies", admitted Mr. Piñera.

In the coming twelve months Chile is scheduled to begin free trade talks with China, Japan and India.