May 11. The Latin American & Caribbean air transport industry exceeded its 2019 passenger levels in March. This is the third time the region has gone well above pre-pandemic traffic levels, fueled by strong recoveries in countries such as Mexico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.
The Latin American & Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) stated that the region’s recovery in March is good news amid the intense forecasts facing the industry, especially in economic matters. Previously, the region had only exceeded pre-pandemic traffic levels in September and December 2022.
According to ALTA, the region posted a 0.6% growth in terms of traffic versus three years ago. Latin America & the Caribbean was only surpassed globally by Africa, which had a 1.7% growth. The Middle East had a 0.5% growth. All the other regions remained under pre-pandemic traffic levels, with Europe having the worst recovery this month, with only an 85.5% bounce back.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Latin America & the Caribbean could close in 2023 with a 13% inflation rate. This variable will negatively impact the demand for travel and tourism services. Additionally, most of the airlines’ costs are in dollars which also impacts the bottom lines of carriers in the region as they face strong devaluations compared to 2019 (with some exceptions, such as Mexico; a US dollar in 2019 was worth 19.09 Mexican pesos and today is worth 17.59 pesos).
Source: Simple Flying
