The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) released the air traffic report for July 2022 and highlighted that Latin America and the Caribbean continues to be the world’s region leading the recovery of commercial air transport activity from pre-pandemic levels.
According to the report, during the seventh month of the year activity reached 90.5% of the levels recorded in July 2019. Latin America and the Caribbean was followed by Africa, with a recovery of 87%, and North America, which has already reached 85%.
The report indicates that a total of 29.7 million passengers were carried in the region during July. Since the beginning of this year, the figure stands at 183.9 million passengers and represents a 13% decrease compared to the same period in 2019.
Passengers on domestic flights
Domestic air transport is experiencing a faster recovery, helped by the reduced impact of health-related restrictions on this type of service. In July 2022, the Mexican market surpassed the level of activity of 2019 and recorded 106% of that year’s values. Brazil has already recovered 90% of its national market. Domestic passengers accounted for 68.7% of the total, while domestic traffic remained 5.8% below 2019 levels.
This recovery is largely due to the growth of the Mexican and Colombian markets, the largest in the region after Brazil’s. The occupancy rate reached 81.8% on domestic flights.
Passengers on international flights
ALTA’s report highlights three countries that exceeded the activity levels on international services recorded in 2019: Dominican Republic (116%), Colombia (109%) and Mexico (106%).
International traffic to destinations outside Latin America is 11.3% below 2019 levels, while traffic between countries in the region is still 24.4% below that year’s level.
The occupancy rate reached 85.5% for connections to non-Latin American countries and 78.8% for international flights between countries in the region.
49% of international flights passengers had a North American airport as their destination. 37% travelled to another Latin American country and 13% did it to Europe. 0.3% of passengers travelled to the Middle East, while 0.1% flew to Africa.
José Ricardo Botelho, Executive Director and CEO of ALTA, highlighted the region’s recovery and said that “the continued removal of restrictions on international traffic has been critical to achieving this”.
In this regard, he added: “Looking ahead, we know that the population will continue to need air travel; however, in order to truly enable more people to use it, we need to continue to reduce costs associated with fares and taxes, as well as to continue to optimise regulations that create inefficiencies”.
See also: José Ricardo Botelho, CEO of ALTA: “Aviation is a tool for development and inclusion”
