LATAM Airlines Group and Delta Air Lines made the first operational announcements after receiving the approval of their Joint Venture agreement in September. Among the initiatives, LATAM announced the launch of new service between São Paulo and Los Angeles beginning July 1, 2023, adding a popular destination not currently served from Los Angeles. Additionally, this new route offers customers access to the largest U.S.-South America corporate and overall market from LAX, where Delta is the largest global carrier.
The flight will have an initial frequency of three times per week on Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, with capacity for 410 passengers (38 in the Premium Business cabin, 50 in Economy+ and 322 in Economy). It will depart from São Paulo (Guarulhos) Airport at 11:05 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, arriving in Los Angeles at 7 a.m. the next day. From Los Angeles, flights will depart at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, and will arrive in São Paulo (Guarulhos) at 5:20 a.m. the following day.
Passengers will be able to connect from LATAM’s hub in São Paulo to destinations in LATAM’s South American network, in addition to connections to the different destinations served by the group. Meanwhile, customers flying to Los Angeles will be able to quickly connect to several popular Delta West Coast destinations, including San Francisco, Las Vegas and Seattle. The new service between São Paulo and Los Angeles is available for booking now through delta.com or latam.com.
More Capacity To And From Latin America
Another highlight of the announcement was the capacity increase on routes to and from the United States that will benefit customers of both partners. On the part of Delta Air Lines, the recently announced additional frequencies of the following routes include:
• New York- São Paulo: Delta’s three weekly flights between its New York JFK hub and São Paulo increased to daily service beginning Oct. 29 with the Airbus A330-300 aircraft.
• Atlanta-São Paulo: On Dec. 17, a seasonal second daily flight between Atlanta and Sao Paulo (GRU) will begin with Airbus A330 aircraft.
• Atlanta-Rio de Janeiro: The popular seasonal route between Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport (GIG) will resume Dec. 17.
• São Paulo-Orlando: Starting in August 2023, LATAM Airlines Brazil will increase its operation to Orlando International Airport, adding a fourth weekly frequency. The operation will be carried out by Boeing 787-9 aircraft and will add 600 extra seats to this itinerary.
With these frequency adjustments, Delta and LATAM will add more than 23,000 weekly seats to their regular itineraries to connect North and South America like never before.