The recovery of air passenger traffic in Latin America and the Caribbean slowed slightly in January 2023, according to a report by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA for its name in Spanish).
Slowing recovery in January
According to data provided by the organisation, 31.3 million passengers were carried in the region during the first month of the year. This means that traffic remained 3.6% below the level of January 2019, the last year before the start of the pandemic.
Compared to January 2022, passenger numbers increased by 21%. However, it slowed compared to December of that year, a month in which 32.3 million passengers were carried in Latin America and the Caribbean.
«In recent years the Latin American and Caribbean aviation industry has shown tremendous resilience and in 2022 it consolidated its position as the region with the best passenger recovery rates in the world», said José Ricardo Botelho, Director General and CEO of ALTA. «The January data this year reflects a slight slowdown in the path and the challenging outlook we will face in 2023», he explained.
In this sense, the executive remarked that «the high price of fuel, tax rates that have an impact on ticket prices, lack of competitiveness and outdated regulations that do not encourage the advancement of the air market» are the main factors hindering the recovery.
«Therefore, our task is focused on promoting state agendas that take aviation as an essential economic sector,» Botelho underlined.
Domestic passengers
With a 125% recovery, Mexico surpassed the level of air passenger traffic it recorded in the same month of 2019. For the first time, Argentina surpassed the numbers of the last year before the start of the pandemic after registering a movement of 101%.
Domestic passenger traffic in Brazil reached 93% recovery, while in Chile it reached 88%. According to December 2022 data, Peru achieved a 94% recovery.
International passengers
The Dominican Republic led the recovery of international passenger traffic in the region, with 111% compared to January 2019. It was followed by Mexico, which reached 116%.
South of the continent, Argentina, Brazil and Chile recorded a slowdown compared to December. They recorded 70%, 76% and 78%, respectively, of 2019 passenger traffic. In the last month of 2022, Peru achieved a 73% recovery.
Forty-seven per cent of international passengers flew to airports in North America. Thirty-nine per cent travelled to other Latin American and Caribbean countries, while 13% flew to Europe. In addition, 0.4% of passengers travelled to the Middle East, 0.1% to Africa and another 0.1% to Asia.
See also: IATA: «Good pace of recovery in passenger demand» in 2022
