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DALLAS - LATAM Airlines Group (LA) will reinstate services between the South American continent and the British Overseas Territory in early July.
The Santiago, Chile-based carrier will begin flying between Puntas Arenas (PUQ) in Chile and Mount Pleasant (MPN) in the Falkland Islands on July 2, 2022, according to a company press release.
The flight, operating weekly on Saturdays, will include a stopover in Rio Gallegos (RGL), a city in southern Argentina, according to the release.
The release also stated that the route will be operated by an Airbus A320 with a total of 174 passenger seats, 162 in economy and 12 in premium economy.
A Historic Return
LA operated the Falkland Islands route since 1999 following an agreement between the Argentine and British governments but was forced to suspend the route in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the release.
Lying in the South Atlantic Ocean, the Falkland Islands are remote and the LA route will join a long-haul Airbridge operated by the British Ministry of Defense connecting Brize Norton (BZZ) in the United Kingdom with MPN via a stopover in West Africa.
The reinstatement of Falklands Islands services comes as LA recently projected that June 2022 passenger operations will be around 74% of those in June 2019 in terms of available seat kilometers (ASK). The airline is also expanding service within Peru and Brazil.
Featured image: LATAM Airbus A320-214 registered as PR-MYQ. Photo: João Pedro Santoro/Airways
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