Unlike the popular routes that don’t have direct service, Britain’s South Atlantic Falkland Islands are a not very popular destination that lacks direct flights from Britain and North America, but that’s due to change.
Starting this week, Latam will be flying to Port Stanley on the islands from Sao Paulo, Brazil, connecting with flights from London Heathrow on a schedule that allows dinner in London, breakfast in Brazil and lunch in the Falklands. Airfare is about $1680 round trip.
Up to now, the only options have been a charter service operated for the Royal Air Force, available for about $2800 round trip with a refueling-but-stay-in-your-seat stop in the Cape Verde Islands. Latam also operates a flight once a week to the Falklands from Punto Arenas, Chile, near its southern tip.
In what may be a significant breakthrough, the flight will make a stop in Cordoba, Argentina once a month. Argentina has long claimed the islands, and lost heavily in a war with the UK after seizing the islands in 1982. About 400 Argentinians visit each year, mainly relatives of soldiers killed there. The flight will accommodate them, but flying from Cordoba rather than Buenos Aires makes the political significance less hot.
Photo: Other than humans, sheep and penguins are Falklands’ best-known inhabitants.
