Latin America and the Caribbean once again leads global air traffic recovery
Mexico exceeds Brazil
June 6, 2023
Panama, June 6, 2023 – In April 2023, the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region achieved an outstanding recovery in air passenger traffic carried, exceeding other regions of the world.
According to the Traffic Report prepared by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), 29.1 million passengers were carried in LAC during that month, reaching 99.8% of passengers carried in April 2019.
“Throughout 2022 Latin America and Caribbean remained as 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. 2023 has presented significant economic challenges, which directly impacts the travel and tourism sector, both for operators and users. Despite this, the strong recovery in passenger traffic demonstrates that aviation is an essential service, and that people want and need to travel in the region. I would therefore like to highlight the continued drive and resilience of the industry and all those involved in aviation in the region to offer more and better options to users so that more people can make use of the safest and most efficient means of transport, and so that more people can benefit from an extensive value chain that is activated every time an aircraft lands in a location”, said José Ricardo Botelho, ALTA's Executive Director & CEO.
Compared to other regions, Africa dropped back to second place with a 96.6% recovery in April 2023. The Middle East reached 95.7%, North America 93.7% and Europe 85.3%. Southeast Asia remains the region with the lowest recovery, at 83.2%.
Mexico exceeds Brazil
The first quarter (Q1) of 2023 brought a significant milestone in the region's aviation landscape. Mexico exceeded Brazil as the largest market in the region. Historically, Brazil has represented the largest market, but in Q1 2023, Mexico carried a total of 29 million passengers, exceeding Brazil, which had a total of 27.4 million.
Mexico grew by 17% compared to Q1 2019, while Brazil kept 10% below. Mexico's accelerated growth is largely due to an increase in the international passenger traffic, which now represents 50% of total passengers, vs. 47% pre-pandemic. Proximity to the United States, the second largest source of international tourists after China, has been a significant advantage for Mexico.
Growth in other countries in the region stood out in Q1 compared to 2022: Argentina grew by 63%, Colombia by 19% (the country with the strongest recovery) and Dominican Republic by 9%.
"The aviation industry in Latin America and Caribbean continues to show remarkable resilience and recovery and we will continue to work closely with industry stakeholders and government authorities to further drive the recovery of aviation in the region", Botelho said.
ACCESS THE COMPLETE ALTA TRAFFIC REPORT HERE: https://cdn-alta-content.s3.sa-east-1.amazonaws.com/traffic-report/RT-ABRIL-2023-ING.pdf
