MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lan Chile expands number of flights to Brazil

Lan Chile was awarded through a bidding process 27 new weekly frequencies between Chile and Brazil, according to industry sources in Santiago. Another Chilean airline, Sky, was also granted seven weekly frequencies.

The Chilean flag carrier won eleven weekly frequencies to Brazil "without geographic limitations", meaning flights can extend to other routes.

Another seven have the option to continue from Brazil to other destinations in the South American continent, while its cargo affiliate, Lan Cargo, managed nine weekly frequencies.

Last April Chile and Brazil civil aeronautics authorities signed an agreement which opened the door for the current expansion process.

For Brazil the agreement means an additional 35 weekly frequencies to Chile, although this still has to be implemented.

Lan is among the leading Latinamerican airlines, and most prosperous, with headquarters in Chile but has also expanded business to other countries such as Ecuador, Peru Dominican Republic and recently Argentina.

In the coming 18 months it has plans to incorporate ten new aircrafts valued in 600 million US dollars.