CHILE-BASED LAN Airlines, which flies into and within South America, is focused on growing its reach in South-east Asia by the end of this year, after establishing a GSA in Singapore in early 2010.
It is seeking partnerships with travel and ticketing agents in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, which will be supported by the Singapore-based GSA.
Juan Carlos Selman, senior sales manager Asia of LAN, said: “These partnerships mean that agents in those markets will be able to access LAN fares, products and sales and marketing support.”
LAN also debuted the LAN Pack programme in Singapore, which consolidates travellers from various travel agencies and arranges for a combined departure. As of yesterday, 15 travel agents in Singapore have expressed interest in the programme.
“LAN Pack was specially developed for markets that find it hard to get enough (leisure) volume to South America,” said Selman, who added that traffic from Singapore is mostly made up of business travellers involved in the thriving marine industry in South America.
The airline will help travel agents on the programme negotiate for better rates with suppliers and provide marketing tools.
Selman expects the programme to garner enough numbers for a group departure in April.
CTC Travel Private Collection vice president, Dennis Soon, said: “LAN Pack is a good tool, especially when we lack sufficient volume for a group departure to South America. It is difficult to sell the destination to Singaporeans. Our affluent customers who regard personal safety as a top priority won’t consider South America, while incentive clients find the flight distance too daunting. It takes two days to fly to and fro, and companies cannot afford to take so many days off work for an incentive trip.”
Cuseko Travel representative Chong Hwee Min said his agency handles an annual average of 200 travellers from Singapore and Malaysia to South America, a number that is growing as “more travellers gain an understanding of the destination”. It will bring a 20-pax high-end leisure group from Malaysia to nine destinations in Central America next February.
