USA: LATAM Airlines Lost A Labradoodle Passenger's Dog

LATAM Airlines has lost a family’s emotional support dog, a labradoodle named Logan, in New York after the pet seemingly failed to board a flight to Paraguay on August 27.

LATAM Airlines based in Chile said that it deeply regrets the situation after the dog belonging to the parents of Connecticut man Jonathan Rolon—disappeared.

The parents had flown out of John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paraguay.

But when they landed, the pooch was nowhere to be seen.

According to Rolon, the airline company informed him the labradoodle never actually boarded the flight due to a ramp issue.

When he contacted the New York airport, Rolon said he was informed that an employee had taken the dog home, where it had then escaped and gone missing

LATAM Airlines Group S.A. is a Chilean airline holding company incorporated under Chilean law and headquartered in Santiago.

It is considered the largest airline in Latin America with subsidiaries in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.

Chile's LAN Airlines and Brazil's TAM Airlines signed a non-binding agreement on 13 August 2010, a binding agreement on 19 January 2011, and papers to close the merger on 22 June 2012, with TAM Airlines shareholders agreeing to the takeover by LAN Airlines.

Enrique Cueto, former CEO of LAN, is CEO of LATAM; Mauricio Rolim Amaro, formerly vice-chairman of TAM, became LATAM chairman.

The agreement to establish LATAM was approved by Chilean authorities on 21 September 2011, with 11 restrictions.

These include transferring four landing slots at Sao Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport to competitors interested in operating flights to Santiago de Chile's Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport.

Renouncing membership to either the Oneworld or Star Alliance airline alliance.

Restricting the increase in capacity on flights between Brazil and Chile; and opening code-share possibilities and fidelity program membership to interested competitors.

On 14 December 2011, Brazilian authorities approved the agreement, imposing similar restrictions as Chilean authorities.

LATAM would have to choose an alliance by August 2012.

Frequencies between Sao Paulo and Santiago de Chile would have to be reduced. At the time TAM had two pairs of slots while LAN had four, LAN had to relinquish two pairs to competitors interested in using them.

On 7 March 2013, LATAM announced its final decision to choose Oneworld as its global airline alliance; as a result TAM left Star Alliance during the second quarter of 2014 to join Oneworld.

In August 2015, it was announced that all LATAM Airlines Group airlines would fully rebrand as LATAM, with one unified livery to be applied on all aircraft by 2018.

The first of these aircraft were repainted or delivered new in a new LATAM livery in April 2016.

LATAM Airlines Group is currently working on the rebranding process, which is expected to be completed by 2019.

Changes are becoming gradually more evident in physical spaces, on aircraft, at business offices, airport service counters, web sites, uniforms among others.

Some changes are already in place, mainly in passenger travel experiences, such as the new cabin interiors which have been incorporated into the fleet, new VIP lounges in Sao Paulo.

Santiago currently open to the public and forming part of the largest network of frequent flyer lounges in the region, and digital platforms such as the onboard entertainment system for mobile devices.

LATAM Airlines shareholder structure is:

- Chile Cueto Group - 27.91%

- Chile Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones or Chilean Pension Funds - 21%

- Qatar Airways - 10.03%

- Chile Eblen Group - 5.93%

- Chile Bethia Group - 5.5%

- United States American depositary receipts (ADR) - 3.98%

- Brazil Amaro Group - 3%

- Foreign investors - 10.2%

- Others - 12.2%

LATAM Airlines Group is one of the largest airline groups in the world in terms of network connections, with its subsidiaries operating a combined fleet of 315 aircraft providing passenger transport services to 137 destinations in 24 countries.

LATAM Airlines has 18 aircraft providing cargo services to 144 destinations in 29 countries.

LATAM’s main hubs are Santiago de Chile's Comodoro Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport, Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Sao Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport and El Dorado International Airport in Bogota.

The company is exploring the creation of a new hub in northeastern Brazil with the objective of expanding operations between Europe and South America.

Bogota was recently announced as the new hub for the Caribbean.

The airlines majority and minority-owned by LATAM Airlines Group through the primary airlines' various subsidiaries are as follows:

- Chile: LATAM Chile

- Argentina: LATAM Argentina

- Chile: LATAM Cargo Chile

- Chile: LATAM Express

- Colombia: LATAM Colombia

- Colombia: LATAM Cargo Colombia

- Ecuador: LATAM Ecuador

- Mexico: LATAM Cargo Mexico

- Peru: LATAM Peru

- Brazil: LATAM Brasil

- Brazil: LATAM Cargo Brasil

- Paraguay: LATAM Paraguay


Tourism Observer

UAE: Flydubai To Commence Direct Flights To Helsinki From 11 October 2018

Flydubai has announced the launch of direct flights to Helsinki.

The daily service will start from 11 October 2018. Flydubai becomes the first airline to offer a year-round service between Dubai and Helsinki.

The carrier will operate the new route on its brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft with flat-bed in Business Class and enhanced Economy Class offering.

The Helsinki route will be code shared with Emirates as part of the Emirates’ and Flydubai’s partnership.

Dubai airlines reveal strong passenger numbers for first six months of tie-up.

Emirates and flydubai revealed on Monday strong passenger numbers for the first six months of their partnership.

The first codeshare flights began at the end of October and between November 2017 and this March, over 400,000 passengers have taken advantage of the partnership and more than 250,000 passengers have already planned their trip for the year ahead, a statement said.

The partnership initially began with codeshare flights to 29 cities, and this has since expanded to meet growing demand.

Emirates currently flies to 141 passenger destinations.

Last year, the airline launched new passenger routes to Newark via Athens, Zagreb and Phnom Penh, and later this year, Emirates will begin services to London Stansted and Santiago de Chile.

flydubai currently flies to a total of 97 destinations, 80 of which are not served by Emirates, bringing the total combined network offering to 206 unique destinations.

Both Dubai-based airlines said they will continue to offer customers greater choice and flexibility across their networks, with codeshares to more than 90 destinations today.

New codeshare flights recently launched include Krakow, Dubrovnik and Kinshasa with more destinations expected in the coming months such as Catania from June 13, Thessaloniki from June 15 and Helsinki from October 11.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saaed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates Group and chairman of flydubai, said: We’re really pleased with how well the Emirates and flydubai partnership is going – based on bookings and the feedback from our customers and trade partners.

We have seen a strong demand for travel on combined Emirates-flydubai itineraries from Europe and the United States to the Middle East and West Asian destinations.


Tourism Observer

BELIZE: Copa Airlines Inaugural Flight To Belize

Copa Airlines, Panama’s leading airline, had its inaugural flight touch down in Belize December 8th and now offering flights to Belize for its passengers as part of its expansion efforts.

Lloyd Alvarez, Cahal Pech Village Resort Reservations Manager, who has been working in the tourism industry for over a decade said Copa Airlines will definitely increase overnight tourism arrivals from South America.

Copa Airlines will be offering two weekly flights to Belize City from Hub de la Americas, Panama City. With this new addition, Copa Airlines will now expand its route to 75 cities and 31 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean with Belize being the seventh in Central America.

The addition of Belize to Copa’s route now means that the airline covers all of Central America and strengthens their regional leadership.

“The connectivity will open enormous opportunities for tourism and commercial development for this interesting Caribbean country, as well as allowing for tourists from the same region to have the opportunity to enjoy all the tourism and commercial strengths Belize has to offer,” Copa Airlines Executive President Pedro Heilbron said.

Flight CM 281 will leave Belize City on Tuesdays and Fridays at 2:17 p.m., arriving at ‘Hub de las Americas’ at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama City at 5:34 p.m. The return flight, will leave Panama Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:29 a.m. arriving in Belize at 12:52 midday. All flights are local time and the flight time is approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes.

For its direct flight to Belize, Copa will be operating a modern Embraer 190 aircraft with capacity for 94 passengers, 10 in Executive Class and 84 in the main cabin. This aircraft is characterized for having two seats in each side of the isle without a center seat, which makes it more attractive and comfortable for passengers.

From Hub de las Americas in Panama, Copa airlines offers more international flights than any other airline with a center of operations in this continent. The flight from Belize to Panama was programmed to provide convenient connection to Sao Paulo, Brazil; San Jose, Costa Rica; Bogota, Cartagena and Medellin in Colombia; Santiago de Chile, Chile; Quito and Guayaquil in Ecuador; Managua, Nicaragua; Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago; Havana, Cuba; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Lima, Peru.

The passengers in transit will not need to pass through immigration or wait in a customs line, and their luggage will be checked at their final destination. In addition, Belizeans will have access to the top five biggest shopping malls in Latin America, a “Stop Over” two nights free of charge in Panama, and easier access to the Caribbean and Latin America for business and vacation.

Alvarez said he is proud of Belize’s tourism industry for remaining vibrant and partnering with Southwest Airlines, who also recently added a new route to Belize. Airfare to Belize has gone down by 20 percent this year compared to last year with Southwest’s introduction and low prices causing other airlines flying to Belize to lower their prices.

2016 looks to be an even better year for airfare as additional airlines, including Westjet, look to partner with Belize and increase air traffic to and from the country.

Alvarez said Cahal Pech looks forward to the increase in overnight arrivals as it will boost the local economy and help to strengthen the tourism industry, which accounts for 18 percent of the country’s GDP.

Cahal Pech Village Resort, located in the Cayo District is comprised of 23 palm thatched cabanas, 14 standard rooms, 5 spacious suites, 9 deluxe suites, 3 fresh water swimming pools, a restaurant that serves an assortment of gourmet flair, a fully stocked bar, a gift shop, a fleet of tour vehicles and a cadre of professional staff.

Families, honeymooners and adventure travelers use the resort as an ideal base to explore the amazing and wonderful ecotourism activities in San Ignacio Town. The resort is owned by Dan and Miriam Silva and has been in operation since 1995.