Latin America air travel nears pre-pandemic levels

Air passenger traffic in Latin America and the Caribbean registered one of the highest rates in April, reaching 99.8% of pre-pandemic levels. By region, Africa has managed to scale to 96.6% of its 2019 levels, the Middle East reached 95.7%, North America 93.7%, and Europe 85.3%. and Southeast Asia remained the one with the lowest recovery with 83.2%.

In April in the Latin American region, 29.1 million passengers were mobilized, which represents 0.2% below pre-pandemic levels.

In the first four months of the year, 118.8 million passengers have been transported, 1.4% below 2019. Average flight occupancy reached 80.5%, 2.8 points below 2019 levels. In the case of domestic flights, the rate was 79.9%, among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean it reached 77.9% and the extra-regional rate was 2.8%.

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 impact the travel and tourism sector, both operators and users”, highlighted José Ricardo Botelho, executive director and CEO of ALTA (Latin America Air Transport Assc.)