A little more than a month has passed since South American
carriers Lan and Tam executed a merger agreement, and already the newly formed
Latam Airlines Group is ready to talk joint corporate deals with U.S. clients,
said Lan vice president for North America Pablo Chiozza, who oversees Latam for
the region.
While the two airlines will continue to operate as
standalone brands, Chiozza said the carriers by year-end expect to form singular
sales and marketing, revenue management and network planning teams.
"I'm going to have my Latam team ready before the end
of October, so we're going to be two companies but under one management team in
the U.S.," Chiozza said. "The same is happening all around the world."
For the U.S. point of sale, Chiozza is ready to begin integrating
corporate contracts under the Latam Group "right away," he said.
"If there is any company that has a contract with Lan
or Tam and doesn't have a contract with the other one, and they want to include
the other part, they can knock on our door or call us," he said.
For those companies who prefer to let current contracts expire,
Chiozza said, "we'll put them on Latam" afterward.
Individually, the two carriers have gaps in coverage—Tam is strong
in Brazil, while Lan is strong in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. "Now
we can offer all of South America" from Latam's U.S. gateways, Chiozza
said.
Meanwhile, the carriers have yet to commit to a single
global airline alliance, but the prevailing wisdom places Latam in Oneworld,
home to Lan for more than a decade.
"Lan is part of Oneworld," said Chiozza. "Tam
since 2010 is part of Star Alliance. We have a period of time that ends by the
end of 2014, and we have to make a decision before then about which alliance Latam
is going to stay. We have time, so we're going to make sure we make the correct
decision."