Passenger traffic in Latin American airlines grew 3.9% in 2019
Publicado el 13-02-2020
Transactions in Latin America and the Caribbean transported 307.3 million passengers in 2019, 3.9% more than the previous year, a growth based on the dynamism of the domestic market, the Latin American and Caribbean Transport Association reported Thursday Aerial (HIGH).
"2019 marked the sixteenth continuous year of passenger traffic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, surpassing 300 million passengers transported by the controlled companies in the region," confirmed Luis Felipe de Oliveira, director of ALTA, which is based in Panama City.
This "important result" occurred in a year in which "the economic activity in the region was significantly lower than predicted, 5 important consequences left the market due to financial problems, and the industry faced a wave of political and social instability that it affected large markets such as Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, "the executive added.
Despite this scenario, the industry grew and "with a significant improvement in connectivity, with 212 new routes / services initiated in the year: 125 domestic and 87 international," Oliveira said in a public statement.
THE DOMESTIC MARKET, THE GREAT PROTAGONIST OF 2019
ALTA said the domestic market represented "93% of total traffic growth" in 2019, with Mexico being responsible for 40% of that increase, which led it to exceed "for the first time the 50 million domestic passengers transported ".
"Colombia mobilized 3 million additional domestic passengers", up 12.7% compared to 2018 and what "makes it responsible for 30% of the total domestic growth in the region," said the Association without further details.
Argentina was the country with the highest percentage growth in the region (13%), with 1.9 million additional domestic passengers, ALTA added.
"It is important to highlight the recovery of the Brazilian domestic market, which achieved a growth of 1.7% despite the departure of a major airline that represented 12% of the market," said the Association, referring to the bankruptcy of Avianca Brazil.
In total, "Latin American and Caribbean airlines transported 232.2 million domestic passengers in 2019, 4.8% more than the previous year," said ALTA.
A MODEST GROWTH OF INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC
International traffic showed "a modest growth of 1.1% in 2019", compared to the previous year, said the Association, which said that "the international intra-regional market had no growth while the extra-regional international market grew 2.8% ".
ALTA explained that "Latin American and Caribbean airlines transported 75 million international passengers in 2019, of which 44.1 million were international passengers within the region and 30.9 million outside the region."
Argentina-Brazil was the most important intra-regional market, while Mexico – USA. It was the most important extra-regional market.
ALTA is a non-profit organization founded in 1980 that has more than 80 members between Latin American and Caribbean airlines with national or international services, others that are not based in the region but have interests or are doing business, and organizations and companies providing the aviation industry.
In an interview with Efe last September, De Oliveira said that "Latin America and the Caribbean represents 8% of the global aviation market", and that it has great growth potential.
"We continue to travel very little, we travel only 0.4 trips per inhabitant. We believe that we can double that size in the next 10 years, making many more people have access to air transport," de Oliveira said.
Source: Telemetro
