Private company

National Airlines

Airline of Chile founded in 19921

National Airlines was a Chilean airline based in Santiago, Chile which operated from 1992 to 1988.2 It ceased to exist in 1998.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Dec 27, 1992Founded1
  • HeadquartersSantiago1
National Airlines (Chile) Boeing 737-204; CC-CSD, May 1997 BWT (5066837784)
Photo: Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

National Airlines was a Chilean airline based in Santiago, Chile which operated from 1992 to 1988.2

The story

National Airlines was founded by a group of investors led by Miguel Nasur. It began operations on December 27, 1992, acquiring Southwest Pacific, owned by Edmundo Ziede, a businessman from Antofagasta. Southwest Pacific offered flights from Santiago to Arica, Iquique, and Antofagasta. The founders' vision, which included acquiring two Boeing 737-200 aircraft from the British airline Britannia, allowed for a rapid expansion of operations to the cities of Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas. Its slogan was "National, shortening the distances." Its first international flight was held on September 9, 1995, with the route from Santiago to Mendoza.

In August of the following year, it began flights to the cities of Balmaceda and Calamay. That same year, it signed an agreement with the Argentine flag carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas who would handle the maintenance of its Boeing 737 fleet. On August 15, 1997, National Airlines began flights to Buenos Aires. In September, it inaugurated its routes to the United States, after the Chilean flag carrier had transferred some of its routes to it the previous year. In late 1997, the magazine companies Air International and Aircraft magazines reported that National Airlines was evaluating wide-body aircraft, with the Boeing 767 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 being the leading options, for potential service to Europe. This however never materialized. On January 8, 1998, another Chilean airline called Avant Airlines acquired 100% of National, with all of the airline's operations gradually passing into Avant Airlines, which operated up until 2001.

From Wikipedia’s article on National Airlines (Chile), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

National Airlines operated the following aircraft throughout its existence

From Wikipedia’s article on National Airlines (Chile), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. Jan 8, 1998Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. Dec 27, 1992Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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