MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Aerolíneas del Sur expands.

Aerolineas del Sur will be inaugurating next May 12 two new domestic routes in Chile, Antofagasta and Puerto Montt.

The airline belonging to the Spanish tourism group Marsans, which also has a leading share in Aerolineas Argentinas, began operations in Chile last December and February with regular flights to Punta Arenas and Iquique.

The company moved into the growing Chilean air market with the purpose of capturing 25 to 30% of domestic flights, (currently under a virtual monopoly situation of Lan Chile) targeting destinations with important industries, mining, salmon farming.

In the second half of this year Aerolineas del Sur is planning to fly to Buenos Aires.

According to the company's deputy Sales Manager Mauricio Segura the fleet currently with three aircrafts will be increased to seven, eight by next December which will demand an estimated seven million US dollars investment.

Mr. Segura revealed that even with the high season over, flights to Punta Arenas and Iquique remain "encouragingly booked", averaging 5,000 passengers per month, which they expect to double when Puerto Montt and Antofagasta open up as mid flight stops in a week's time.

Chilean Civil Aviation data shows Aerolíneas del Sur captured 1,75% of air passenger traffic during the first two months of 2005 compared to 80,85% for Lan Chile and 16,5% for Sky airlines.