MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New agreement between LAN and Jetstar

Jetstar and LAN in interline agreement

Chile's LAN has announced an agreement with the Australian budget airline, Jetstar, owned by Quantas airways.

The agreement means that LAN will use Jetstar's network to service flights to destinations in Asia and Oceania. LAN passenger chief Armando Valdivieso said that this will increase the options available to LAN passengers. “Through this agreement, a passenger can go from Santiago to Sydney or Auckland and then from there to many of the popular tourist destinations in Indonesia, Thailand, or Japan,” he said.

The airlines will also provide national connecting flights to seven Australian cities and three cities in New Zealand. Jetstar will allow LAN to operate its large-capacity Airbus
A330 planes for long flights and its A321 planes for shorter flights.

The agreement is not the first for the Qantas affiliate. Jetstar also has agreements with other airlines such as Air Calin, Air Canada, Air France, Air Niugini, Air Pacific, Air Tahiti Nui, American Airlines, Continental, Etihad, KLM, Qatar and Royal Jordanian.

Following the announcement last Wednesday, the share value of LAN Airlines SA increased 0.9 percent.

The new partnership comes as LAN prepares to merge with Brazil's TAM airlines, making LAN the largest airline in Latin America by market value. The combined entity, LATAM Airlines Group would rank as the world's eleventh biggest in terms of passenger traffic and solidify its position as a major global competitor.

By Sarah Fisher - Santiago Times