Transporte Aéreo S.A.

d/b/a A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

LATAM Express (previously known as LAN Express) is a subsidiary of

LATAM Chile LATAM Airlines Chile (formerly LAN Airlines and LAN-Chile) is an airline based in Santiago, Chile, one of the founders of LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America's largest airline holding company. The main hub is Arturo Merino Benítez International ...

based in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It operates few domestic flights for its parent. Its main hub is

Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional Arturo Merino Benítez) , also known as Santiago International Airport and Nuevo Pudahuel Airport, located in Pudahuel, north-west of downtown Santiago, is Chile's lar ...

History

Ladeco Boeing 707-321B CC-CYB MIA 1989-7-6

Ladeco Boeing 757-200 CC-CYH JFK 1994-6-13

The airline was established as Ladeco by Juan Costabal Echeñique on November 1, 1958, flying mostly internal routes between Chile's major cities. Initially, the company mainly flew domestic services, but later served international routes to the Caribbean and North America. In 1993, Ladeco was sold 37.35% to

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

, which in turn approved the sale to

LAN-Chile LATAM Airlines Chile (formerly LAN Airlines and LAN-Chile) is an airline based in Santiago, Chile, one of the founders of LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America's largest airline holding company. The main hub is Arturo Merino Benítez International ...

. In 1994, LAN-Chile bought over 99.41% of the shares and merged Ladeco into its fleet. At the time of the takeover, The airline was equipped mainly with

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

s as well as some 727s and

757 757 may refer to: * Boeing 757: a narrow-body airliner * AD 757: a year * 757 BC: a year * 757 (number): a number * Area code 757 Image:Area code 757.png, The area colored red indicates the southeast corner of Virginia served by area code 757 pol ...

s. It then became exclusively an internal carrier between Chilean cities. In October 1998, Ladeco was merged with Fast Air Carrier. In 2000, Ladeco and LAN-Chile became the first airlines in the world to certify their flight operations, incorporating the TQM methodology. On October 28, 2001, Ladeco was officially rebranded as a new affiliate of LAN-Chile named ''LAN Express'', and most internal operations were taken by. The brand was then merged back into LAN Airlines in 2006, although it operated some domestic flights using the code of LAN Express. On May 5, 2016, the airline was rebranded to ''LATAM Express'' as a result of the

LATAM Airlines Group LATAM Airlines Group S.A. is an airline holding company headquartered in Santiago, Chile. It is considered the largest airline company in Latin America with subsidiaries in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. The company filed for Ch ...

merger. The airline had faced a long-lasting strike that cancelled most of its flights in April 2018.

Destinations

LATAM Express operates the following services (as of August 2017):

Fleet

Current fleet

LATAM Express Airbus A321 at Puerto Montt Airport (February 2017)

The airline's fleet consists of the following aircraft as of March 2021:

Former fleet

As Ladeco and LAN Express, the airline previously operated the following aircraft: During the 1960s, the airline operated a number of

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

s, with their cargo fleet also including three

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

Accidents and incidents

*On April 8, 1968, a Douglas C-49K (registration CC-CBM) crashed on approach to

Balmaceda Airport Balmaceda Airport is an airport next to the village of Balmaceda, serving the Aysén Region of Chile. The airport is west of the Argentina border, it is located 55 km south-east of Coyhaique, the regional capital. The Balmaceda VOR-DME (I ...

killing all 36 people on board. The aircraft was operating a domestic scheduled passenger flight from

Los Cerrillos Airport Los Cerrillos Airport was the main aviation facility of Santiago, Chile until 1967, when Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport was opened. The airport was closed in 2006.Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. *On May 17, 1999, a

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

(registration CC-CYR) was damaged beyond repairs after one of its fuel tanks burst into flames during refueling at

References

External links

LAN Airlines
{{Cl-avia Airlines of Chile E Former Oneworld affiliate members Chilean companies established in 1958