LATAM Starting New Los Angeles to São Paulo Route in July 2023

As part of a U.S. expansion, South American carrier LATAM is introducing a new route from Los Angeles (LAX) to São Paulo (GRU). While this route has been trialed by other carriers before successfully, LATAM is hoping to utilize its strong presence in South America to take Anglenos south to Brazil and onward to connecting points.

New Nonstop Flights From LA to São Paulo

The new flight will operate 3x a week starting July 1, 2023, with the flight to Los Angeles operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The São Paulo flight will depart on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Keep in mind that each flight is a redeye and arrives the following day.

The flights will depart according to the following schedule:

• Depart São Paulo (GRU) 11:05 p.m. — Arrive in Los Angeles (LAX) 7:00 a.m. (+1)
• Depart Los Angeles (LAX) 1:00 p.m. — Arrive in São Paulo (GRU) 5:20 a.m. (+1)

Hot Tip: You’ll notice that the flight times are arranged to allow for connections. In Los Angeles, partner Delta Air Lines will take passengers onward, while LATAM has a robust network from São Paulo.

Each flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, with 38 business class seats and 372 economy class seats. Business class features a fully flat bed in 1-2-1 configuration. LATAM+ features a 3-4-3 configuration with extra legroom, and the main economy class features the same configuration with less legroom.

The new Los Angeles to São Paulo flight will be the only one operating on this route currently, replacing a previously offered service by American Airlines that was removed from the schedule due to poor demand. American and LATAM used to be partners via the Oneworld alliance, but LATAM moved its partnership to Delta after Delta bought a sizable stake in the airline. LATAM is no longer part of Oneworld, and with no possibility of connecting traffic in São Paulo, the American flight was likely to fail.

LATAM currently operates to Boston (BOS), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), and Orlando (MCO), so the new flight to Los Angeles will be the fifth one in LATAM’s U.S. network. Interestingly, LATAM only operates flights along the East Coast, so this will be the first flight to anywhere west of the Mississippi.

Final Thoughts

The Los Angeles to São Paulo route has failed several times before with other carriers, so it will be interesting to see if LATAM can bring enough traffic on this flight to make it work long-term. It’s great to have a nonstop option from the West Coast of the U.S. to the most populous cities in Brazil.