South American airline to over-fly NZ in new Chile-Australia link
A new Santiago-Melbourne service will run three times a week.
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Latam Airlines Group will bypass New Zealand with the launch of a new non-stop service between Santiago, Chile, and Melbourne.
The airline already flies daily from Santiago to Sydney with a stopover in Auckland. It introduced a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to the route last year.
The same aircraft will be used on the new service to Melbourne, which will run three times a week from October 5.
Another South American airline, Aerolineas Argentinas dropped its Auckland stopover in 2014.
Latam estimated the new route will carry an extra 75,000 passengers between Australia and South America.
The move coincides with a new agreement between the airline and Tourism Australia and the Victorian government to further boost tourism and trade.
Santiago is a hub airport for Latam and will offer travellers onward connections to 124 destinations throughout the region, including direct services to major cities such as São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Lima, Bogota and Quito.
Nevil Gibson
Tue, 06 Dec 2016
Tue, 06 Dec 2016
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South American airline to over-fly NZ in new Chile-Australia link
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