LATAM Airlines Brasil has kicked off the July holiday season by launching direct flights from São Paulo/Guarulhos to Cape Town (South Africa), Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) and Ushuaia (Argentina). The trio of inaugurals—1 July for Cape Town and Ushuaia, 2 July for Punta Cana—takes the carrier’s international map from Brazil to 31 nonstop destinations, the largest in the company’s 30-year history.
![LATAM inaugurates three new long-haul routes from São Paulo, lifting Brazil’s network to a record 31 international destinations]()
Before travellers book these new flights, it’s worth checking entry requirements: South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Argentina each apply different visa and health protocols. VisaHQ’s one-stop portal makes the process painless for Brazilian passport holders, providing up-to-date information and application assistance for all three destinations in Portuguese—details at https://www.visahq.com/brazil/
The Cape Town service, operated thrice weekly with a 300-seat Boeing 787-9, restores a South Atlantic link lost in 2020 and is expected to boost trade flows between two BRICS partners. South African tourism agency Wesgro estimates R1.2 billion (US$67 million) in visitor spending during the first year. Punta Cana gets five weekly Airbus A320 flights, giving Brazilian holidaymakers a Lima-free shortcut to the Caribbean and capturing pent-up demand after the peso devaluation made Dominican resorts more competitive than Cancún. Meanwhile, the seasonal Ushuaia route taps the winter sports boom; Embratur forecasts a 28 % jump in outbound ski packages now that travellers can avoid Buenos Aires connections. For corporate mobility managers, the new services translate into shorter journey times, fewer overnight layovers and increased cargo belly capacity for perishables. Guarulhos airport—which handled 3.1 million foreign arrivals in the first five months of 2026—is strengthening its bid to become Latin America’s premier hub as rivals in Santiago and Bogotá face slot constraints. LATAM says further expansion is likely once its order for A321XLR aircraft starts arriving in 2027, with feasibility studies under way for Houston, Tel Aviv and Doha. Environmental NGOs have urged the airline to match growth with its net-zero roadmap by investing in sustainable aviation fuel and carbon-offset projects in the Amazon.
Before travellers book these new flights, it’s worth checking entry requirements: South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Argentina each apply different visa and health protocols. VisaHQ’s one-stop portal makes the process painless for Brazilian passport holders, providing up-to-date information and application assistance for all three destinations in Portuguese—details at https://www.visahq.com/brazil/
The Cape Town service, operated thrice weekly with a 300-seat Boeing 787-9, restores a South Atlantic link lost in 2020 and is expected to boost trade flows between two BRICS partners. South African tourism agency Wesgro estimates R1.2 billion (US$67 million) in visitor spending during the first year. Punta Cana gets five weekly Airbus A320 flights, giving Brazilian holidaymakers a Lima-free shortcut to the Caribbean and capturing pent-up demand after the peso devaluation made Dominican resorts more competitive than Cancún. Meanwhile, the seasonal Ushuaia route taps the winter sports boom; Embratur forecasts a 28 % jump in outbound ski packages now that travellers can avoid Buenos Aires connections. For corporate mobility managers, the new services translate into shorter journey times, fewer overnight layovers and increased cargo belly capacity for perishables. Guarulhos airport—which handled 3.1 million foreign arrivals in the first five months of 2026—is strengthening its bid to become Latin America’s premier hub as rivals in Santiago and Bogotá face slot constraints. LATAM says further expansion is likely once its order for A321XLR aircraft starts arriving in 2027, with feasibility studies under way for Houston, Tel Aviv and Doha. Environmental NGOs have urged the airline to match growth with its net-zero roadmap by investing in sustainable aviation fuel and carbon-offset projects in the Amazon.
