LATAM Airlines flight chases the total solar eclipse

July 2019…// At 13:19 (UTC-6) on 2nd July, flight EFLIGHT 2019-MAX (LA1296) flew into the shadow of the total solar eclipse (TSE), 12,500 meters over the Pacific Ocean. Travelling at a speed of 900 kilometres per hour, LATAM’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner “chased” the path of the eclipse, enabling passengers onboard to experience total darkness for over eight minutes; three times more than the two and a half minutes of darkness experienced from the ground.  

"At LATAM, we are committed to showcasing the best of Latin America to the world and we are proud that the leading eclipse experts chose us as the airline to follow the path of this phenomenon, on a unique flight over the Pacific that took off from the remotest place on the planet, Rapa Nui/ Easter Island," said Yanina Manassa, Customer Service Director, LATAM Airlines Group.

The flight departed from Easter Island’s Mataveri airport at 09:50 local time, heading northwest for two hours and 30 minutes to position itself in the TSE’s trajectory on an eastbound flight path, before returning to the island with a total journey time of five hours and 30 minutes.

Onboard, LATAM welcomed more than 50 passengers from 10 countries – including scientists as well as amateur astronomers and enthusiasts – to experience the equivalent of three TSEs in a single sighting. One of the passengers, Dr. Glenn Schneider, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, not only helped plan the flight, but also recorded his 35th total solar eclipse, a Guinness World Record.

In September 2018, LATAM Airlines Group was listed in the "World" category of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the fifth consecutive year and is one of only three airline groups in this category worldwide.

Please find more information here: https://www.latam.com/en_uk/

 As one of the three most sustainable airline groups in the world*, LATAM is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and the group decided to offset the emissions of EFLIGHT 2019-MAX through a reforestation project in Madre de Dios in the Peruvian Amazon.

LATAM worked with T.E.I. TOURS & TRAVEL, the trip organiser, and leading scientists for two years to plan every detail of the flight, from predicting the trajectory of the eclipse and identifying the best route for passengers to experience the phenomenon.