As of August 2, 2023, LATAM has launched a direct flight between Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU) and Los Angeles International (LAX).
The new route is the first flight between the US and Brazil to be operated under the joint venture between LATAM Airlines and Delta Airlines. Furthermore, it’s also the only nonstop air link between Brazil and California operating at present.
The thrice-weekly flight departs LAX at 1:15pm local time on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and arrives in Sao Paulo at 05:15am local time.
The GRU to LAX flight departs at 11:20pm Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays and arrives at 7:35am (all times given in local time).
Initially, this service will be operated by a Boeing 777 aircraft fitted with a three-class cabin with 38 Business, 50 premium economy (‘Economy+’) and 322 economy class seats. However, from November 2023, LATAM plans to switch to a smaller aircraft, namely a Boeing 787-9 with 30, 57 and 213 seats on each of the respective product classes.
Until now, LATAM has provided access to the California market via Lima, Peru (LIM), or Santiago de Chile (SCL), which added at least four hours to the itinerary. With the nonstop service, travel time between the two metropolises will be cut to 12 hours.
This is the fifth US gateway for LATAM, which already flies to Miami (MIA), Orlando (MCO), New York (JFK) and Boston (BOS).
In parallel with this announcement, LATAM also posted its Q2 2023 results, which showed a $45 million profit on $2.68 billion of revenue (more than 20% up from the same period of 2022).