LATAM has embarked on major route restructuring in Brazil to recover domestic leadership, and is challenging low-cost competition in Chile by launching international flights from Concepcion.
Avianca Brazil’s disappearance has been the catalyst for LATAM to redesign its Brasilia hub operation and pick up slots at Rio de Janeiro’s downtown Santos Dumont airport, Sao Paulo Guarulhos, and Fortaleza.
LATAM will from Santos Dumont launch new routes to Salvador, Vitoria, Porto Alegre and Curitiba.
The airline has reduced its daily connection banks at Brasilia in order to free resources for more day-return flights to the federal capital.
LATAM is also launching 71 new weekly frequencies in Parana, one of Brazil’s most industrialised states, including new connections from Curitiba to Porto Alegre and from Maringa to Guarulhos.
Internationally, LATAM will codeshare with Paranair on its Curitiba-Asuncion flights, and is evaluating a direct Curitiba-Santiago link for 2020.
“Our priority is the corporate customers,” says LATAM. “We are not in a market-share race. It is all about improving service and increasing profitability.”
LATAM Chile has programmed a new thrice-weekly service connecting the country’s second-largest city, Concepcion, with Lima from 2 May 2020, imitating JetSmart, which has announced its own twice-weekly service from 19 December.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
