Qantas face LATAM competition on Sydney to Santiago

Qantas will face competition on its popular service from Sydney to Santiago, Chile, after LATAM announced it would begin direct flights from 28 October. The new four-times weekly route will be in addition to its current service that operates via Auckland and a separate three-times weekly flight from Melbourne. The Flying Kangaroo has had the route to itself post-COVID, with the latest BITRE data from the Department of Transport showing it boasted load factors of 90% outbound – its fourth-highest for an international destination. “All LATAM Airlines flights between Australia and Chile are operated on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft,” said the Latin American airline on Monday. “In total, LATAM will have 3,900 seats per week on flights between Australia to Latin America, that’s over 200,000 seats a year open to business and leisure travellers.” LATAM’s service will fly outbound from Sydney on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, compared to Qantas’ flights on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. <br/>