Four years, 17.4 million passengers and nine additional routes later, the LATAM-Delta alliance is giving rival airlines something to think about and travellers across the Americas considerably more places to go.
Four years ago, LATAM and Delta struck a partnership that probably sounded thrilling in an airline boardroom and rather less exciting to anyone standing in a check-in queue. Today, the numbers suggest this corporate courtship has developed serious wings.
The airlines say their joint venture is on course to offer 31% more capacity in 2026 than in 2023, while nine routes have joined the network since the agreement began in October 2022. For travel advisors, that means more ways to stitch together journeys across North and South America and fewer excuses for an itinerary that resembles a plate of tangled spaghetti.
The scale is considerable. From October 2022 to July 2026, the partners operated 83,000 flights, offered 20.8 million seats and carried 17.4 million passengers in markets covered by the agreement. Those are historical figures. By contrast, the 31% increase compares projected 2026 capacity with 2023, not a final audited result for the year.
Another point to keep clear: the nine new routes have been added over the life of the partnership. They are not nine newly announced services for October 2026. Aviation headlines have enough turbulence without the figures taking off, too.
A network that reaches beyond the nonstop flight
The joint venture now spans 28 routes and links more than 300 destinations across the United States, Canada and South America, according to the airlines. Delta provides extensive North American coverage, while LATAM brings its South American hubs and regional reach.
Perhaps the most telling figure is 9.4 million. That is how many of the 17.4 million passengers travelled on connecting itineraries. The partnership’s commercial strength therefore isn’t simply flying between two major cities. It is in making connections from one airline’s network into the other’s practical enough to sell.
Consider the options. LATAM has added São Paulo-Los Angeles and Buenos Aires-Miami, while its Lima-Atlanta service feeds Delta’s principal hub. Delta’s Atlanta-Cartagena route brings another Colombian destination into the picture. The expanded network also includes Bogotá-Orlando, Guayaquil-New York, Rio de Janeiro-New York JFK and Lima-Salt Lake City.
Delta has increased frequencies to São Paulo and Bogotá, with seasonal boosts to Santiago and Buenos Aires. More services offer flexibility, especially for travellers who want to visit several countries rather than spend a holiday exploring one airport.
Growth is not uniform. Delta’s latest summary puts planned 2026 capacity in Ecuador 64% above 2023, Brazil nearly 33% higher and Peru 25% higher. Colombia and Chile have grown by about 10%. Argentina, added to the agreement in 2025, is expected to rise nearly 47% against 2025. Those different baselines matter when assessing the headline figures.
Loyalty benefits, without the fine-print surprises
The arrangement offers more than a larger route map. LATAM Pass and Delta SkyMiles members can earn rewards on eligible flights across both airlines, while qualifying travellers may receive priority check-in and boarding, baggage benefits, and seat-selection privileges.
Eligible passengers also have access to participating lounges, including a network Delta now describes as nearly 60 Sky Clubs in the United States, alongside LATAM lounges in South America and Miami. Lounge entry depends on ticket class, status and programme rules. An alliance, regrettably, is not a magic key to every airport buffet.
The airlines say nearly 1.4 million loyalty members have earned miles or qualifying points through travel on the partner carriers since the venture began. They have also worked on digital baggage tracking and shared terminals at airports including São Paulo, Santiago and New York JFK.
Ramiro Alfonsin, Chief Commercial Officer of LATAM Airlines Group, summed up the network logic:
“The Joint Venture has enabled us to offer our passengers more destinations and better connections by bringing together two highly complementary networks.”
According to LATAM, the proportion of passengers willing to recommend the two airlines has risen by 50% since the agreement began. That is a company-reported change in a recommendation measure, not evidence that half of all customers suddenly became converts. Delta’s Alex Antilla, vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean, has likewise pointed to wider choice and stronger links between the continents as central benefits.
Why Australian travel advisors should care
For Australian travellers heading across the Pacific, LATAM’s links from Sydney and Melbourne to Santiago can provide a gateway into South America. The broader LATAM-Delta network then opens up further North American options. The joint venture itself covers specified markets between the Americas; it does not turn an Australia-Chile flight into a joint-venture service.
That distinction matters when booking through-fares, baggage arrangements, frequent-flyer benefits and connection times. Advisors should check the operating airline, the actual fare conditions and the rules that apply to each sector, rather than assuming every partnership benefit follows the passenger everywhere.
And what of fares? Extra capacity may give customers more options, but the airlines’ impressive traffic totals do not prove ticket prices have fallen. Joint ventures also allow approved forms of commercial coordination, so the smart advice remains familiar: compare schedules and total costs across competing carriers.
More aircraft, more ambition
The next chapter could bring additional routes and frequencies, helped by LATAM’s planned Airbus A321XLR aircraft and Delta’s fleet renewal. Neither a new destination nor a launch date should be regarded as confirmed simply because the aircraft offers possibilities. The partnership is also developing its freight business, with the airlines projecting almost 1.6 billion available tonne-kilometres of cargo capacity for 2026.
For now, the achievement is straightforward. LATAM and Delta have turned a transcontinental business agreement into a materially larger, more useful network for connecting passengers. Four years in, this is one airline marriage still accumulating air miles and, by the looks of it, showing no enthusiasm for separate holidays.
By: Bridget Gomez – © 2026.
Read Time: 5 minutes.
Author Bio:
Bridget has never been built for stillness. Of Portuguese heritage, she began as a nurse, tending veterans at the Repatriation Hospital and listening to stories as colourful as the life she had yet to live. It was worthy, steady work but wanderlust, as always, proved louder than routine.
So, she traded starch for a backpack and disappeared for a year, chasing trains, sunsets and the occasional regrettable glass of wine. She wrote everything down: the dust, the laughter, the missteps, the magic. Those notebooks became a travel blog, then a habit, then a calling.
Eventually she found Stephen’s EGT Media, or perhaps it found her.
Today Bridget writes with heart, humour and a dash of mischief, still travelling, just now with words.
