Sky Airline Sky Airline Sky Airline is an airline based at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile. It is the second largest airline in the country behind rival LATAM Airlines and the first airline to operate under a low-cost model in the country. It serves international routes to Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay. It also operates charter flights in Chile and South America. Sky Airline was controlled by its founder, Jürgen Paulmann (1930–2014), a German-Chilean businessman, brother of retail billionaire Horst Paulmann. It started operations in December 2001 and made the first flights from Santiago to Northern Chile in
Sun Country Airlines DC-10 in early 2001. In June 1999, the management of Sun Country launched a transformation from a charter carrier into a scheduled airline. New service from Minneapolis and Milwaukee began to destinations including Los Angeles, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C. and Phoenix. The airline also started a frequent flyer program, Smile Awards. In 2001, Sun Country began to replace its entire fleet with Boeing 737 aircraft. As Sun Country reinvented itself, heavy competition from local incumbent carrier Northwest Airlines and the September 11 attacks caused a sharp decrease of traffic and revenue. The airline was losing large amounts of money by