Brazil’s TAM airlines and Chile’s LAN Airlines have merged to form the LATAM Airlines Group. The new group offers passengers more flights to more destinations than any other affiliated group of airlines in South America, initially reaching around 150 destinations in 22 countries and transporting cargo to 169 destinations in 27 countries.

“The creation of this group of airlines is an opportunity to take South America to the world and to allow us to position ourselves to operate in an increasingly competitive environment due to the continuing consolidation of the global airline industry,” said Enrique Cueto, Executive Vice President-CEO of LATAM Airlines Group.

Among the benefits that passengers of both TAM and LAN will see over time are increased connectivity, improved routes and frequencies, and reduced connection times. Additionally members of the airlines’ frequent flyer programs, LANPASS and TAM Fidelidade, will be able to earn and redeem kilometres/points over the complete route networks of LAN and TAM.