December 2nd, 1937

SANTIAGO - The national Chilean airline, LAN-Chile, announced its expanded service plan, as well as plans for expanding its fleet.

Landplane Routes

LAN-Chile's current landplane fleet, including six Potez 56 airliners, plans to serve the following routes starting in 1938:

• Santiago to Concepción via Valparaiso
  • Connections with CSAV and seaplane routes in Valparaiso
• Santiago to Lima via Antofagasta*
• Santiago to La Paz* via Antofagasta
• Santiago to Buenos Aires via Cordoba

* As part of LAN-Chile's expanded services, the civil airfields in Antofagasta and La Paz are being expanded in capacity, with runways extended to 2,000 meters in both locations.

Seaplane Routes

LAN-Chile's seaplane route, including five Consolidated Commodore aircraft, plans to serve the following routes starting in 1938:

• Valparaiso to Panama City, via Antofagasta, Lima and Guayaquil
• Valparaiso to Puerto Montt, via Concepción
• Valparaiso to Punta Arenas, via Concepción and Puerto Montt
  • Twice-monthly connection from Punta Arenas to Port Stanley

Merger with NYRBA and Aeroposta Argentina

After the regime change in Argentina, the abandoned assets of the New York, Rio and Buenos Aires air line and Aeroposta Argentina were seized by the Chilean military government. Five of the NYRBA's eight Consolidated Commodore aircraft were acquired by LAN-Chile, while the remaining three remained in Argentina. Recently, General Escudero, after a meeting with chief of LAN-Chile, Artruro Fernandéz, announced that a new subsidiary of LAN-Chile, LAN-Argentina, would be formed from the remains of NYRBA and Aeroposta Argentina. This airline will possess three Consolidated Commodores for long-range service, as well as Latécoère 28s and Sikorsky S-38s.

The service routes for LAN-Argentina are planned to be:

• Buenos Aires to Montevideo
• Buenos Aires to Punta Arenas, via Montevideo, Bahía Blanca and Comodoro Rivadavia
• Buenos Aires to Copacabana, Bolivia
• Buenos Aires to Encarnacion, Paraguay

Future Expansion

Future plans for LAN-Chile's expansion depend partially on two purchases recently made by the Chilean National Air Force (FAN) of Japanese aircraft. Naval Aviation, a new branch of the air force under the command of the Navy, plans to provide two examples of the Kawanishi H6K transport flying boat to LAN-Chile, with a provision that the aircraft be provided back to Naval Aviation in the event of a war. These aircraft, with a range of nearly 5,000 km, would enable Chile to begin service across the South Atlantic ocean to South Africa and across the Pacific to Djakarta and Yokohama. Besides these seaplanes, eight examples of a new Japanese transport plane with a long range and 14-passenger capacity would greatly expand the airline's landplane route capability.