As airlines continue to grow and grow in recent years, there have been many business pacts and ties that have been formed to mutually benefit separate companies. There are several ‘airline alliances’, such as the Star group, and the South American-centred ‘Oneworld’. Of all of Oneworld’s members, one of the most prolific is the Chilean company LAN Airlines.

As the official flag carrier airline of Chile, the company is entitled to certain rights and privileges that make it exempt from certain government rulings. The company is based in country’s capital city of Santiago. The airline is one of the largest of its kind in Latin America, servicing flights to both Central America and South America, the United States, Oceania, Europe and the Caribbean. The airline is officially the tenth oldest airline that still currently operates, and was the forty-ninth airline to be established in the entire world.

The airline officially began its operations on the 5th of MArch in 1929 and operated under the name of Linea Aeropostal Santiago-Arica. LAN Airlines was founded by the Chilean man: Arturo Merino Benitez, who was an Air Services Commander. The Chilean airport Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport was named after him in later years due to his lifelong commitments to the aeronautical industry. As of 1932, the company changed its name and began operating under the name of Linea Aerea Nacional de Chile, commonly abbreviated to LAN Chile. In English the name essentially means ‘The National Airline of Chile’.

The government of Chile privatised the company in the latter quarter of 1989, and the majority of the shares were sold to Scandinavian Airlines. This company went on to sell its shares to local investors a few years later, and the airline continues to be very much a Chilean phenomenon. That said, halfway through 2005, LAN announced that it would shortly be opening a subsidiary company in the form of LAN Argentina. This branch of the company services flights from the capital city of Argentina in Buenos Aires. These flights provide passengers with an extensive network around Argentina as well as chartered flights to international destinations around the globe. Aside from Austral and the budget airline Aerolineas Argentinas, LAN Argentina is the third largest airline operating locally in Argentina.

LAN Airlines has advanced over the years to acquire a network of other companies that are based around South America, Latin America, and some of the southern states of America. The company enjoys high rates of revenue each year and is seen as a key figure in the economic playing field of South America.