After last being served over four years ago, LATAM Ecuador will recommence Quito to Miami this winter. It last operated the route between May 2003 and January 2017. When it resumes, it'll be the second airline on the airport pair, joining – you guessed it – behemoth American Airlines. Between them, they'll have three daily flights. If Quito-Fort Lauderdale is added, there will be three carriers and four daily services.

LATAM: back on Quito-Miami

LATAM Ecuador will take off from Quito to Miami – the USA's most recovered major airport – on Sunday, October 30th. That's the day when airlines in the Southern Hemisphere switch to summer schedules, and those in the Northern Hemisphere adopt winter plans. Its schedule on the 1,787-mile (2,875km) airport pair is as follows, with all times local:

  • Quito to Miami: XL1454, 08:30-13:45 (4h 15m block time)
  • Miami to Quito: XL1453, 15:35-18:55 (4h 20m)

It'll use all-economy, 174-seat A320s from the broader LATAM Airlines Group; the Ecuador unit only has A319s. According to the US Department of Transportation, LAN/LATAM previously deployed the A319 on the route (January 2015-January 2017) and the B767-300ER (May 2003-January 2015).

LAN_Ecuador_Boeing_767-300ER_LDS
Previously, LAN often used the B767-300ER on Quito-Miami. Photo: Luis David Sanchez via Wikimedia.

Stay aware: Sign up for my weekly new routes newsletter.

Third airline to South Florida

The return of LATAM Ecuador means that Quito to Miami and Fort Lauderdale will have three airlines this winter with four daily flights. In a week in randomly chosen mid-November, they are broken down as follows:

  1. JetBlue: B62850, 1x daily to Fort Lauderdale, 00:59-05:04, A320
  2. American: AA932, 1x daily Miami, 07:40-11:57; B737 MAX 8
  3. LATAM Ecuador: XL1454 Miami, 1x daily, 08:30-13:45; A320
  4. American: AA2162, 1x daily Miami, 16:00-20:18; B737 MAX 8

Combined, there will be 9,520 roundtrip seats for sale, a third higher than the equivalent period in pre-pandemic 2019, thanks to the reentry of LATAM.

LATAM Airlines Group USA network winter 2022
LATAM Airlines Group USA network winter 2022. Image: GCMap.

Discover more aviation news.

14 LATAM routes to the US

As of September 6th, the LATAM Group has 14 nonstop passenger routes from South America to the US this winter, as summarized below. Its network involves six South American airports and five in the US. Across the whole winter, Cirium indicates that it has 2,170 US flights and between 12 and 16 daily, down on winter 2019 but getting there.

  1. Lima to Miami: 2x daily this winter; B767-300ER
  2. São Paulo Guarulhos to Miami: 10x weekly and later 2x daily; B777-300ER
  3. Bogotá to Miami: 10x weekly and later 2x daily; A320, B787-8
  4. Santiago to Miami: 12x weekly, B787-9
  5. Lima to Los Angeles: 1x daily and later 10x weekly; B767-300ER
  6. São Paulo Guarulhos to New York JFK: 1x daily; B777-300ER
  7. Lima to New York JFK: 1x daily; B767-300ER
  8. Santiago to New York JFK: 1x daily; B787-8, B787-9
  9. Quito to Miami: 1x daily; A320 (from October 30th)
  10. Lima to Orlando: 4x weekly; A320
  11. Santiago to Los Angeles: 3x weekly; B787-8
  12. São Paulo Guarulhos to Boston: 3x weekly; B787-9
  13. São Paulo Guarulhos to Orlando: 3x weekly; B787-9
  14. Fortaleza to Miami: 1x weekly; B787-9

What routes would you like them to add? Let us know in the comments.