United Airlines to Launch Daily Flights From Houston to Santiago, Chile

United Airlines is introducing daily non-stop flights between Houston and Chile’s capital Santiago as the U.S. carrier gears up to bolster its operations in Latin America. The service, subject to government approval, will begin on Dec. 7, 2014, the airline announced in a statement.

The flights will depart Houston’s Bush International Airport daily at 9:05 p.m., arriving in Santiago at 9:40 a.m. the next day. Return flights will depart Santiago at 10:45 p.m., arriving in Houston at 5:40 a.m. the following day.

The flights are timed to provide convenient connections from Houston to 111 airports across the United States and to more than 60 international destinations, the carrier said.

“With our first-ever service between Houston and Santiago, Chile, we are expanding our already substantial presence in Latin America,” said Alex Savic, United’s managing director of Latin American sales. “These flights will provide our customers fast, easy connections between our Houston hub and destinations throughout the U.S. and around the world.”

United will operate its Houston-Santiago service with Boeing 767-300 aircraft with a total of 214 seats.

The airliner is also considering launching weekly flights to several other destinations in Central America and the Caribbean. It plans to launch weekend flights between Huston and the Dominican Republic on December 20 and between Chicago and Belize City in early May 2015.

This winter, United also plans to expand its service from Houston to the Caribbean island of Aruba. The airline currently offers Saturday Houston-Aruba flights that are scheduled to continue through mid-August 2014. On Dec. 20, the company will resume the Saturday service that will continue through early May 2015 and begin service on Sundays for periods of anticipated higher demand.

Houston has been the airline’s principal gateway to Latin America. Together with United Express, the company offers nearly 560 daily flights from Houston to more than 51 destinations across Latin America and the Caribbean.