Latin America and the Caribbean: leaders in air traffic recovery

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) once again leads the world ranking of air passenger traffic recovery by transporting 29.2 million passengers during the month of June, a figure that is 1.8% higher than its pre-pandemic levels. This growth compared to 2019 was driven by the domestic market, while the international market remained 2% below its 2019 levels, according to the Air Traffic Report presented each month by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association ( HIGH).

Argentina was the most prominent country in the recovery of domestic air traffic with a growth of 16% compared to June 2019. This milestone is related to the increase in traffic to and from Bariloche, a city that during June had six direct domestic routes and 982 operated flights.

Specifically, on the Aeroparque-Bariloche route, flights increased 43%, while the Ezeiza-Bariloche route increased 89%. Bariloche's high air connectivity reaffirms its position as one of the most important tourist destinations in Argentina where, according to local government data, tourism generates just over 40% of total jobs.

Argentina thus surpassed the growth of Mexico (+15%) and Colombia (+4%). Similarly, the domestic performance of Venezuela and Chile was very positive, advancing 11% and 8%, respectively, above 2019.

Brazil accumulates two consecutive months of growth, reaching 4% in June above 2019. The Congonhas (SP)-Santos Dumont (RJ) route was the most important domestic route in the region with 3,158 flights operated between both airports in June, which which represents an increase of 24% compared to 2019.

Thus, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela are the seven countries with the best domestic recovery in the region during June; together they represent 94% of the total domestic traffic in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Colombia, at the head of international passengers

Colombia leads the recovery of international air traffic. It stood out with a growth of 40% (483,000 additional international passengers) compared to its 2019 levels, which were driven by the growth in the number of flights on the Cali-Miami (+50%), Bogotá-Quito (+49 %), Bogotá-Santo Domingo (+8%) and Bogotá-Madrid (+48%). In total, from and to Colombia, 10,800 international flights were operated during June 2023, 13% more than in June 2019.

Mexico, for its part, had a 12% growth in international passengers, driven mainly by the increase in the number of frequencies in the markets to and from Colombia (+15%), Spain (+36%) and Costa Rica (+ 36%). The most important international route in Mexico: Cancun-Dallas Fort Worth grew 49% in the number of flights offered.

The Dominican Republic grew 17%, driven by three international markets that doubled their number of flights compared to 2019: Colombia (+49%), Venezuela (80%) and Mexico (+39%). Among the largest international markets that are still lagging behind June 2019 are Brazil, Argentina and Chile with 83%, 77% and 84% of 2019 levels, respectively.

Mexico is the leader in 2Q23 vs 2Q19

In the second quarter of 2023, 87.2 million passengers were transported in the region, 1% more than in the same quarter of 2019. Mexico maintained its leadership as the country with the highest traffic in the region during 2Q23 with a total of 29.1 million passengers transported and domestic and international levels well above 2019.

For its part, the air market in Colombia transported a total of 11.4 million passengers in 2Q23, exceeding 13% the passengers of 2019. As mentioned above, in Colombia international growth stood out with 34% more than its levels of the same quarter of 2019. In the growth of international traffic, countries such as the Dominican Republic (+16%) and Costa Rica (+11%) stood out.

Brazil remained 3% below its pre-pandemic levels with 26.2 million passengers transported in the second quarter of 2023. Brazil faces different realities in its domestic and international markets, while domestic traffic has exceeded its second-quarter levels by 0.5% 2019, in the international case it remains 16% below 2019 levels.

Argentina, Peru and Cuba (the country furthest behind, both in domestic and international traffic) still remain below their 2019 levels. However, in Argentina (+11%) domestic traffic is fully recovered compared to 2019. Venezuela , for its part, has exceeded its total traffic levels by 12% thanks to the fact that its domestic traffic has grown 13%; for the international market, it is still behind 2019, although it is expected that there will be a notable improvement in the coming months thanks to the reopening of flights with Colombia.

Global picture

The ranking measured in passengers by region of origin/destination leaves the Middle East region in second place, reaching 99% of its 2019 levels, after having shown strong growth in May. North America advanced slightly to 96%, Africa reached 95.3% falling back to fourth place. Southeast Asia advanced towards 91.2% of its 2019 levels and Europe had 89.4%. In general, all regions of the world showed a slowdown, while LAC remained at similar levels compared to May, being the world leader in air traffic recovery.

Source: ALTA