Lanchile has been "working to be one of the 10 best airlines in the world," Cueto says. He sets about defining what he means. "When you fly to the Far East you choose an airline - perhaps Singapore Airlines. When people fly to South America we want them to think of LanChile first." Cueto emphasises that acceptance into one of the dominant global alliances such as oneworld, when your airline is from what he calls "the second world" is not a foregone conclusion. "Part of our success is that LanChile has a very good safety reputation. Safety is our main objective. In this region it's more important. When you fly in the US market you know the name of the company, but you do not have to ask if it is safe. But in this part of the world you need a reputation."
Cueto says LanChile has been voted the best provider of air transport from the USA to South America. LanChile, however, has to set its sights on providing services as well and as efficiently as airlines like British Airways, American Airlines, Lufthansa, United Airlines and Air France, says Cueto. "It is not easy for a company of the second world to compete with a company of the first world, because [in the country itself] services are not as efficient, the resources are not the same. It is not only an economic issue, especially for a service company. We need education. The attitude of our people is good, but if you come from Europe there are many things you do not need to teach employees. In Chile we do not have the same professionalism, culture of safety, service, knowledge about language, culture, wines, and food," he says.
Whatever reservations Cueto has about Chile's limitations, it is coming out on top in safety oversight. Eight Latin American nations have had their safety oversight classified Category II (provisional) under the US FAA International Aviation Safety Assessment Programme, and eight more classified Category III (unacceptable), but Chile was classified Category I (safe).
Source: Flight International
