From January to October of this year, passenger air traffic in Latin America and the Caribbean was 394 million 538 thousand 684 passengers, which meant an increase of 5.7% year-on-year .
The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) reported that domestic traffic grew by 2.5%, from 205 million 589 thousand 163 passengers to 210 million 761 thousand 721. International traffic was the fastest growing segment, with 12.8% year-on-year, from 40 million 620 thousand 985 to 45 million 816 thousand 831 passengers.
While in October, air passenger traffic reached 38.7 million, a growth of 4.6% (+1.7 million passengers vs. October 2023), 45% of this increase was driven by the Colombian domestic market, which added 524,624 additional passengers (+16.2%).
The domestic segment accounted for 60% of total growth , handling 22.3 million passengers, achieving its second best performance of the year, after February. In total, 190,406 flights were operated, with the Bogotá – Medellín route being the busiest, with 422,318 passengers.
Intraregional traffic grew by 9.1%, reaching 4.7 million passengers and 43,147 flights. This growth was led by the Brazil-Chile market, which added 103,000 additional passengers thanks to new frequencies. Also notable was the 21.7% increase in passengers between Colombia and Panama.
Meanwhile, extra-LAC traffic grew 2.5%, totaling 11.7 million passengers on 72,257 flights. Routes to North America registered the largest absolute increase, with 941,185 additional passengers (+0.9%) and 398 additional flights, 108 of them on the Orlando-Punta Cana route. Connections to Europe grew 6.3%, totaling 9,808 flights, with Caracas-Madrid as the leading route.
Demand (RPK) grew 3.8% and supply (ASK) increased 3.3%, with an occupancy factor of 84.9%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to 2023.
ALTA stated that in Mexico, domestic traffic totaled 5.2 million passengers, reflecting a decrease of 4.2% compared to 2023. 35,797 flights were operated. However, the Guadalajara – Monterrey route grew by 6% in frequencies, moving 86,291 passengers. The Mérida airport increased its flights by 8.2%, while Puerto Vallarta (PVR) reported an increase of 9 percent.
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