JetSmart Adds Two International Routes Between Chile and Peru

Over the last couple of years, JetSmart Chile has been changing the industry dynamics in South America, exploiting point-to-point markets in both domestic and regional realms that gear away from the centralized structure that characterizes Chile and the wider region that sees secondary markets majority fed through the countries capitals. The carrier’s next move will create two new links between Chile and Peru.

The first will connect the Chilean capital of Santiago with the city of Trujillo in Northern Peru. Flights will commence on December 19 and flights will run three times per week.

Secondly, the Indigo partners owned carrier plans to fly between the city of Antofagasta in Northern Chile and the Peruvian capital of Lima from next year. The new route will significantly reduce travel time for passengers travelling between those points, reducing the need of a 700 mile southwards detour to the capital of Santiago to catch a connecting flight back up to the neighboring country in the north.

This addition will come along with the set-up of a new base in the coastal city of Antofagasta that will also see JetSmart fly to four secondary destinations across Chile, which do not pass through the capital of Santiago. These mechanisms have been pivotal in JetSmart’s value generation strategy and signal a change in the industry dynamics across the region that will hopefully see other carriers follow suit.

Across the Andes in the neighboring country of Argentina, JetSmart’s second base flies across ten destinations throughout the country, such as Neuquén to Salta and Bariloche to Mendoza and Neuquén to Mendoza, many connected by air for the first time. Despite the country’s ongoing economic crisis that has seen the Argentine peso sharply lose value against the U.S. dollar, the airline is adding new flights in the last quarter of the year such as Rosario to Mendoza and Iguazu to Cordoba.

In Peru, the airline already connects Santiago with Lima and Arequipa. Despite no short term plans to set up a base in the country, probably due to the high degree of low-cost competition in the domestic market from Irelandia owned Viva Air and SKY Airline; Jet Smart is taking advantage from the growing demand between its home in Chile and its neighbor in the north.

On one hand, both countries share a series of long-lasting social, economic and cultural ties that see steady demand for travel, facilitated by periods of relative economic stability in both territories. On the other, growing Chilean investment in Peru will continue to bring the need for more and increasingly frequent connectivity between both countries.

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Jose Antonio Payet

As a geography nerd, Jose has always been fascinated by the complexities of the airline industry and its ability to bring the world closer together. Born and raised in Peru, now studying in the UK. he has travelled around America, Europe and South East Asia. His favorite aircraft is the Boeing 767-300, which he has flown many times during his childhood; although now the A350 is slowly growing up on him.

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