At last, South Africa will once more have a direct link with South America when LATAM Brazil re-starts its flights on September 4 this year.
After a three-year break, during which there were no direct South-to South flights, the Latin American carrier will start operating the route with three flights a week, JNB to GRU.
LA8059 will depart Johannesburg at 12h50 on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, arriving Sao Paulo at 18h55.
LA8058 will depart Sao Paulo at 17h25 on Monday, Thursday and Sunday, arriving Johannesburg at 08h10 the following day.
The aircraft used on the JNB route will be a Boeing 787-900, in a three-class configuration. Previously, the airline deployed an Airbus A350-900 on the route, but those aircraft were disposed of during the Chapter 11 restructuring the airline underwent after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The LATAM Group recently announced it had posted a full year nett profit of US$1,3 million (R25,6m) for 2022, after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection only in November last year.
The group finished its last financial year operating flights to 144 destinations across 22 countries, a similar number to pre-pandemic levels.
This year, it expects annual growth of 20% over its passenger and cargo operations.
The group comprises a collection of 10 airlines, all flying with a common livery, as “LATAM”. They are LATAM Brazil, LATAM Cargo Brazil, LATAM Chile, LATAM Cargo Chile, LATAM Express, LATAM Colombia, LATAM Cargo Colombia, LATAM Ecuador, LATAM Paraguay and LATAM Peru.
LATAM has a joint venture with Delta Air Lines (which owns a 20% stake in the LATAM Group), forming a powerful force in aviation across North and South America, as the two airlines may now work closely to create a network of connections between the United States/Canada and South America (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay).
Later this year, LATAM Brazil will also begin flying GRU-LAX under this JV agreement with Delta.
From GRU, LATAM flies to 21 foreign airports, serving both hubs in Buenos Aires, Ezeiza and Jorge Newbery.
LATAM is represented in South Africa by Rogers Aviation.
