page_title: LATAM Chile
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: LATAM Chile / History / Early years
caption_attribution_description: La apertura de vuelos internacionales fue posible gracias a la incorporación de aviones Douglas DC-3 a comienzos de 1946. (Foto y autorización de difusión: Museo Nacional Aeronáutico y del Espacio, Chile)
context_page_description: LATAM Airlines, formerly LAN Airlines S.A. and LAN-Chile, is an airline based in Santiago, Chile, and is one of the founders of LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America's largest airline holding company. The main hub is Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, with secondary hubs in El Dorado, Jorge Chávez, Mariscal Sucre, and José Joaquín de Olmedo airports.
  LAN Airlines was the flag carrier of Chile until its privatization in the 1990s, is the predominant airline in Chile, and Peru, and the second-largest carrier in Colombia and Ecuador, through its local subsidiaries. LAN is the largest airline in Latin America, serving Latin America, Northern America, the Caribbean, Oceania, Asia, and Europe. The carrier has been a member of the Oneworld airline alliance from 2000 to 2020.
  LATAM Airlines Group was formed after the takeover by LAN of Brazilian TAM Airlines, which was completed on June 22, 2012. In August 2015, it was announced that the two airlines would fully rebrand as LATAM, with one livery to be applied on all aircraft by 2018.
context_section_description: The airline was founded by Chilean Air Force Commodore Arturo Merino Benítez (after whom Santiago International Airport is named), and began operations on March 5, 1929 as Línea Aeropostal Santiago-Arica (English: Postal Air Line Santiago-Arica), under the government of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. In 1932 It was rebranded as Línea Aérea Nacional de Chile (English: National Air Line of Chile), using the acronym LAN-Chile as its commercial name. LAN-Chile's first fleet consisted of de Havilland Moth planes.
  Merino Benitez was a strong defender of Chilean carriers exclusivity on domestic routes, differing from most Latin American countries which easily granted the authorization on domestic flights to US-based Panagra, influenced by the propaganda made by Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing. Also because of this reason, US-built airplanes became more difficult to incorporate to LAN's fleet until the beginning of WWII. In 1936, 2 French Potez 560 airplanes were purchased while in 1938, 4 German Junkers Ju 86Bs were incorporated into the fleet. During that same year, a cooperation agreement was established with Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano and the Peruvian carrier Faucett. Another agreement with Lufthansa was signed for flights to and from Europe and America's Atlantic coast.
  In 1940, given the restrictions imposed during WWII on access to spare parts for the Junker's BMW engines, LAN-Chile had to replace them with Lockheed Electra 10-A planes, adding in 1941 further Lockheed Lodestar C-60 and Douglas DC-3 in 1945.
caption: LAN-Chile Douglas DC-3, added to the fleet in 1945
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