LAN Airlines S.A. is a group of South American Airlines based in Santiago, Chile and part of LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America’s largest Airline holding. LATAM was formed by the takeover by LAN of Brazilian TAM Airlines which was completed in 2012, although both companies operate with different certificates and liveries.
LAN is the flag carrier of Chile, the predominant airline in Chile, Perú and Ecuador, the second largest carrier in Argentina and Colombia through its local subsidiaries. LAN is currently positioned amongst the largest airlines in Latin America, serving Latin America, North America, the Caribbean, Oceania, and Europe. Since 2000, it is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance. Its main hub is Santiago International Airport.
The airline began operations in 1929 as Línea Aeropostal Santiago-Arica (English: Postal Air Line Santiago-Arica). In 1932 It was rebranded as Línea Aérea Nacional de Chile (In English: National Air Line of Chile), using the acronym LAN-Chile as commercial name. In 1989, the Chilean government privatized the carrier. The approval from the Chilean Anti-Trust Authority resulted in the acquisition of the country’s second largest airline Ladeco in 1995. In 2002, LAN Chile starts its internationalization process through LAN Peru and LAN Ecuador. In 2004 Lan Chile and its subsidiaries LAN Peru, LAN Ecuador, LAN Dominicana and LANExpress became unified under the unique LAN brand and livery, eliminating each airline country name on the brands. In 2004, LAN Chile changed its formal name to LAN Airlines. In 2005 LAN opened its subsidiary LAN Argentina and operates national and international flights from Buenos Aires. In 2010, LAN acquired 98% ot the shares of AIRES, the second largest air carrier in Colombia. In 2011, AIRES started operating as LAN Colombia. In 2012 the merger between LAN Airlines and Brazilian airline TAM Airlines was completed.
Source: Wikipedia
Photo Hennie Sluimer 2009
Design #9
Design #11