According to the Traffic Report of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), 29.1 million passengers were transported in LAC during April of this year, thus reaching 99.8% of the passengers transported in the same period. month of 2019.
“Throughout 2022, Latin America and the Caribbean remained the region in the world with the highest passenger recovery. An impressive milestone given that it was a region that did not receive any financial support during the pandemic. This year 2023 has presented important economic challenges, which directly impacts the travel and tourism sector, both operators and users. Despite this, the strong recovery in the number of passengers shows that aviation is an essential service, that people want and need to travel in the region. For this reason, I would like to highlight the continued drive and resilience of the industry of all those who are part of aviation in the region for offering more and better options to users so that more people can make use of the safest and most efficient means of transport.
Compared to other regions, Africa slipped back to second place with a recovery of 96.6% in April 2023. The Middle East reached 95.7%, North America 93.7% and Europe 85.3%. Southeast Asia continues to be the region with the lowest recovery, reaching 83.2%.
Mexico surpasses Brazil
In the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, a significant milestone occurred in the aviation landscape in the region. Mexico surpassed Brazil as the largest market in the region. Historically, Brazil has represented the largest market, but in the first quarter of 2023, Mexico transported a total of 29 million passengers, surpassing Brazil, which had a total of 27.4 million.
Mexico grew 17% compared to Q1 2019, while Brazil remained 10% below. Mexico's accelerated growth is due in large part to the increase in the number of international passengers, which now account for 50% of total passengers, compared to 47% prior to the pandemic. The proximity to the United States, the second country of origin of international tourists after China, has been a significant advantage for Mexico.
In Q1, the growth of other countries in the region stood out compared to 2022: Argentina grew 63%, Colombia 19% (the country with the greatest recovery) and the Dominican Republic with 9%.
"The aviation industry in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to show remarkable resilience and recovery and we will continue to work closely with industry players and government authorities to further drive the recovery of aviation in the region," he added. Bottle.