- South America is now more accessible to Australians with direct flights to Santiago from Sydney and Melbourne.
- LATAM paused their nonstop service from Sydney to Santiago during the 2020 pandemic.
- Renewed confidence in the market and an uptick in demand has reinstated the service, which operates four times a week.
It’s been four years since South America’s LATAM Airlines Group stopped flying its popular nonstop route from Sydney to Santiago, but renewed confidence in the market has flipped the script.
LATAM’s Australian operations were paused during the 2020 pandemic with flights from Sydney via Auckland to Santiago returning in March 2022.
And while heading to South America via Auckland is still a popular route, and will continue to operate six times a week, having a direct line for Aussies to hop on over to Chile’s vibrant capital will surely meet an uptick in demand.
The first non-stop flight of the newly reintroduced service, LA810, departed Sydney at around 1pm on October 28, serviced by a 787-9 Dreamliner CC-BGA. As with all LATAM Australia flights, the route will continue on the Boeing 787-9 aircraft, with 30 business class seats and up to 283 economy seats.
It’s the start of what should be an increasingly popular way to explore South America, with the service flying four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The direct route clocks a flight time of just under 13 hours, which shaves four hours from the Auckland stopover service.
Last year, LATAM also reinstated its nonstop service from Melbourne to Santiago, nodding to a sizeable boost in capacity. In just the first three months of the year, LATAM group transported 20.2 million passengers, which is 19.4 per cent higher compared to the same period in 2023.
In 2023, Sydney Airport saw a total of 38 million passengers flow through its terminals. That’s not exactly pre-pandemic levels yet, but the figure is only 13 per cent short of the annual record of 44.4 million passengers in 2019.
