LATAM Airlines will likely join the Oneworld Alliance by the end of the year

The chief of Latin America's largest airline group, LATAM Airlines, has indicated very strongly that the combined carrier will be a Oneworld member, ahead of an alliance membership decision that the airline expects to announce by year-end.

Chilean airline group LAN and Brazil's TAM closed on their merger on 22 June, creating one of the biggest carriers in the world with affiliates in various Latin American countries. LAN is a Oneworld member while TAM is in Star Alliance. Anti-trust regulators, in approving the merger, had stipulated that LATAM cannot be in the same alliance as AviancaTaca, the other major Latin American airline group. AviancaTaca joined Star Alliance in June, which means TAM would have to leave Star.