Qatar Airways buys 10 per cent of LATAM
The big picture: LAN’s B787 Dreamliner
LAN has become the fourth customer to take delivery of the Boeing Dreamliner, joining ANA, JAL and Ethiopian Airlines.
The Chilean carrier celebrated the delivery at a ceremony at Boeing’s Seattle factory on Friday August 31, and will launch commercial flights “over the next few months”, with planned routes including Buenos Aires, Lima, Los Angeles, Madrid, and Frankfurt.
The aircraft is fitted with 217 economy seats in a 3-3-3 layout, and 30 fully-flat seats in business class configured 2-2-2.
Features include AVOD IFE systems with touchscreen technology (nine-inch screens in economy and 15.4-inch in business class), and the ability to stream content from personal devices including tablets, mobile phones and digital cameras.
LAN has a total of 32 Dreamliners on order, a mixture of the standard B787-800 version and the longer B787-900 model.
For more information visit lan.com, boeing.com, and for our comprehensive guide to the Dreamliner, with details and images of current and forthcoming B787 operators, click here.
Report by Mark Caswell
LAN / TAM merger approved
Anti-trust authorities in Brazil have approved the merger between Chilean carrier LAN and Brazilian airline TAM.
The merger was announced last year and will create the largest airline group in Latin America, to be know as LATAM. Chilean authorities had previously approved the merger, with a number of conditions.
As part of the conditions set by Brazil’s Council for Economic Defence (CADE), two pairs of slots will have to be given up at Guarulhos airport for the Sao Paulo-Santiago route.
Speculation will also centre on which airline alliance the merged group will choose to be affiliated with. LAN is currently a member of the BA-founded Oneworld, while TAM is within the 28 carrier-strong Star Alliance, and CADE conditions mean one of the airlines will have to resign its membership.
For more information visit tam.com.br, lan.com.
Report by Mark Caswell