Virgin Atlantic and LATAM Airlines have submitted an application to the US Department of Transportation for a codeshare agreement which will create good connectivity into three South American countries.
The agreement includes only the Peruvian, Chilean, and Colombian subsidiaries of LATAM, opening up their networks to Virgin passengers. It reciprocally gives passengers of Latam Peru, Latam Colombia and those on Latam Airlines’ Chile-originating flights, improved access to London Heathrow on Virgin’s flights from Miami.
The US will serve as a transit point for flights between the countries – the Latam and Virgin flights will connect at various US airports – JFK, LAX and MIA.
Passengers can book flights to the UK on the LATAM website and vice versa. Tickets booked for flights using the codeshare agreement will be marked with the code VS or LA, as applicable.
According to Air Insight, the routes included in the authorisation request are between the following city pairs:
JFK and LIM
LAX and LIM
MIA and LIM
MIA and BOG
MIA and LHR.
Virgin already has a codeshare agreement with LATAM for Brazil, allowing travellers booking through Virgin Atlantic to fly direct from Heathrow to São Paulo and connect to 12 domestic airports within Brazil.
