LAW - Latin American Wings (Santiago de Chile) has attained its own Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) thus ending its operations as a virtual carrier.

The carrier, which until now had conducted scheduled charter flights using a B737-300 wet-leased from Chilejet (Santiago de Chile), said in a statement to the Chilean press that it would shortly induct three B737-300s - presumably CC-AQL (msn 26301), CC-ARQ (msn 28869), and CX-OAA (msn 28569) - into service. The trio of jets has been in storage at Santiago de Chile since last year.

LAW plans to use the added capacity to boost existing services to Punta Cana and La Romana International in the Dominican Republic, Lima International in Peru, and Port au Prince in Haiti, while adding more destinations in future.

"Our main objective is to be an alternative in the market, as thus far, there have been very few options when buying tickets," Andrés Dulcinelli, LAW's general manager said. "This first year has been very auspicious and we hope, in the short term, to consolidate our position, increase the frequency of our flights and the number of destinations that we currently serve."

Between now and the end of 2018, LAW expects to spend USD20 million in the acquisition of up to four more B737-300/400s and in the establishment of an MRO hangar and offices.