Originally Posted by
Seat 2A
Back in 2007, I tried to fly on a LAN Chile award into MPN, but alas it was an invalid destination for award travel. As I recall, the nonstop flight was out of Ushuaia, Argentina using an Airbus A319.
As to the other "entity" - one that operated aircraft no less - I'm guessing it may have been L.A.D.E., the state owned airline operated by the Argentine Air Force. I've seen their little F28 jets at Calafate and for a time during the busy summer season you could occasionally get lucky and have a 707 operating your flight. I believe that 707 was retired around 2006 or 7. As for service to Port Stanley, if indeed there was any from LADE, I imagine it might have emanated from somewhere like Rio Gallegos.
LAN Chile is correct! The airline was alternating between A319 and A320 equipment for their service into Mt. Pleasant (MPN) in the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic at this time. Here's a typical routing......
LA 992: MPN-RGL-PUQ-PMC-SCL Op: Feb. 17 only & Mar. 17 only Equip: A320
And here's another routing...
LA 990: MPN-PUQ-PMC-SCL Op: Sat. only eff. Mar. 24 Equip: A319
RGL - Rio Gallegos
PUQ - Punta Arenas
PMC - Puerto Montt
SCL - Santiago
However, as for the "entity", it was not L.A.D.E........so please guess again!