LAN Airlines expands Sydney-Santiago service

LAN Airlines, the national carrier of Chile, is expanding its services between Australia and South America, with a fourth weekly service from Sydney to Santiago starting this month and a fifth weekly flight from July 2005.

The airline, a member of the oneworld global alliance, has just added a Saturday flight to its existing schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Friday - and from 5 July next year, there will also be a Tuesday flight.

The new services, operated with 259-seat Airbus A340-300 aircraft, have been introduced to meet soaring demand for travel to South America, one of the world's fastest growing destinations for both tourism and business. All of the aircraft have personal video screens in every seat in each of their three classes.

Flight LA 800 departs Sydney each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10.30am, flying via Auckland and arriving in Santiago at 12.45pm the same day - a journey time of 16.5 hours. The new Tuesday flight will also follow this schedule, and connections are available to destinations throughout South America, and to Havana, Cuba.

The return service, flight LA801, departs Santiago at 11.25 pm every Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, arriving in Sydney, via Auckland, at 7.25 am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays - a total flight time of 18 hours. And from July there will also be a Sunday evening departure.

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