MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean carriers bound for River Plate skies

LATAM picks Uruguay and Sky takes on the Argentine market

LATAM Airlines is to resume services to the Uruguayan beach resort of Punta del Este, in addition to increasing its services between Montevideo and Santiago, it was announced.

Starting in January 2022, the LATAM group will serve Punta del Este twice a week, to and from Sao Paulo's Guarulhos and also to/from Santiago's Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport.

Flights to Santiago will resume Jan. 2 and to Sao Paulo Jan. 6.

The consortium will also increase frequencies between Montevideo and Santiago from four weekly services to seven while keeping the eight weekly flights between Montevideo and Sao Paulo unchanged.

With this measure, “Latam seeks to reinforce connectivity from Uruguay with the group's main connection centers on the continent. Likewise, it is committed to consolidating the tourist season and reactivating the sector,” the company said in a statement.

LATAM Brazil also resumed its flights to London on Friday, Dec. 3 with Boeing 777-300 (ER) aircraft which can accommodate up to 410 passengers. The airline will have four weekly services to the British capital.

The company's last flight to London had been on Dec. 23, 2020. At the time, the company operated Airbus A350-900, which have been decommissioned.

LATAM currently serves the following European destinations: Barcelona (BCN): Frankfurt (FRA), Lisbon (LIS), London (LHR), Madrid (MAD), Milan (MXP) and Paris (CDG).
Also making the news regarding air services to and from the River Plate was Chilean carrier SKY, which has started operating from Santiago to Buenos Aires' Jorge Newbery Airport on Sunday, offering two weekly services with Airbus A320neo aircraft, with a 186 seat configuration.

Flights to Aeroparque come in addition to current operations to Buenos Aires' other airport: Ezeiza. Between the two airports, SKY will serve the Argentine capital from Santiago de Chile ten times a week, while Dec. 13, SKY Peru will start its operations between Lima and Ezeiza.