[8] The airline was founded by Chilean Air Force Commodore Arturo Merino Benítez (after whom Santiago International Airport is named), and began operations on March 5, 1929, as Línea Aeropostal Santiago-Arica (English: Postal Air Line Santiago-Arica), under the government of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo.

In October 1946, it started international service to Buenos Aires at Morón Airport and in 1947 to Punta Arenas, Chile's most distant continental destination.

Since then, all of LAN's DC-6 fleet had painted on their fuselage Primeros sobre la Antártica ("The first over Antarctica"), using this same aircraft type for its first commercial service to Miami International Airport in 1958.

In October 1967 a LAN Chile Sud Aviation Caravelle made the first ILS landing in South America at Lima's Jorge Chávez International Airport.

[14] On January 16, 1968, the Santiago-Easter Island flight was extended to Papeete-Faa'a International Airport, in Tahiti, French Polynesia using a Douglas DC-6B.

The airline then introduced Boeing 707 jet service on the Santiago – Easter Island –Papeete, Tahiti route in April 1970.

Since its inception and until 1970, the airline had its headquarters, main hub, and maintenance center at Los Cerrillos Airport, in southwest Santiago.

Also, McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s, LAN Chile's first wide-body jets, were added for use on routes to Los Angeles, Miami, and New York.

Eighty tourists were selected for a 31-day tour that included visits to the main cities of Africa, Asia and Oceania.

In 1988, LAN Chile started construction of its maintenance center at Santiago Airport and added a Boeing 747-100 on lease from Aer Lingus to its fleet during the summer season for its US flights.

Since 1994, major shareholders have been the Cueto Family and businessman Sebastián Piñera (until 2010), who sold his shares when taking office as President of the Republic of Chile.

The approval from the Chilean Anti-Trust Authority resulted in the acquisition of the country's second-largest airline Ladeco on August 11, 1995.

In October 1998, LAN-Chile merged its cargo subsidiary Fast Air Carrier with Ladeco, forming LAN Express.

The airline opened many routes during 2017, one of them being the longest flight in their history: Santiago to Melbourne, which started operating October 5 of that year.

During the first half of 2018, the airline experienced problems due to the Rolls-Royce engines on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, having grounded at least six of them since February 2018.

The airline has its headquarters on the 20th floor of the 5711 Avenida Presidente Riesco Building in Las Condes, Santiago Province.

[27] LATAM Chile was a popular choice for surfers traveling to South America because of their policy of not charging extra baggage fees.

[28] On October 5, 2017, LATAM inaugurated their direct route between Santiago and Melbourne, a 15-hour (westbound) and 11,300 kilometres (6,100 nmi) flight.

[30] The route operated with a flight departing from Santiago, Chile with a stop in São Paulo, Brazil, and from there it proceeded directly to Tel Aviv, Israel.

LATAM overhauled its Boeing 767s, adding amenities like flatbed seats in Premium Business class, which offers 180 degrees of recline, and new touchscreen personal TVs with on-demand content.

In 2021, LATAM acquired four Boeing 787-9 aircraft that used to fly for Norwegian Air Shuttle, which entered service in late 2022.

The newly renovated LATAM lounges were designed by Chilean architects Mathias Klotz and Olivia Putman.