Aerovías DAP (Las Aerolíneas de la Patagonia) (Punta Arenas) on June 14 2012 announced the launch of a new regular route linking the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas with the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia in the Patagonia (the route has been operated as charter flights in the past). A media flight was performed on June 14, while the official start of scheduled operations will be on July 7. The new route will be operated with two flights a week on Mondays and Saturdays. The aircraft that will be operating this new route is the pictured de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter registered as CC-CHV (above), the same aircraft that was used on the promotional flight of June 14. The Twin Otter covers both cities in about 1 hour and  25 minutes over some very scenic territory.

In other news, Aerovías DAP BAe 146-200 CC-ACO landed in Santiago for the first time on June 12, on a direct flight from Punta Arenas. The jetliner is reportedly to be part of the charter operations on behalf of the mining industry in the northern part of Chile which are to begin soon. Once started, Aerovias DAP will operate from northern Chile to Antarctica.

Top Copyright Photo: Alvaro Romero. DHC-6-300 Twin Otter CC-CHV (msn 709) is being maintained at the Puntas Arenas base. The Twin Otter still wears the basic colors of Brymon Airways.

Bottom Copyright Photo: Alvaro Romero. The pictured BAe 146-200 CC-CZP operates regular scheduled flights from Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams and charter flights to Antarctica during the summer, hence the titles in Spanish.