Latin American airline industry to lose three billion 700 million dollars by 2022

Until 2024 it will not return to the levels of international travel it had before the pandemic; except for Mexico, which is already at similar numbers for not restricting flights.

Latin American airline industry to lose three billion 700 million dollars by 2022
The airline industry in Latin America will lose three billion 700 million dollars by 2022. Image by Joshua Woroniecki from Pixabay

The airline industry in Latin America (LA) will lose three billion 700 million dollars by 2022, 34% less than this year when losses will amount to five billion 600 million dollars, and its recovery will be far behind other regions of the world, said yesterday the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

At a press conference in Boston, where IATA is holding its assembly, Peter Cerdá, regional vice-president for the Americas of this association, pointed out that Latin America will not return to the levels of international travel it had before the pandemic until 2024, while domestic traffic in the region will recover a year earlier, in 2023.

In North America, airlines will lose five and a half-billion dollars in 2021, but IATA expects the region to generate nine and a half-billion dollars in profits by 2022, thanks to the rapid recovery of the US domestic market, where the sector began to make profits in the second quarter of 2021.

The IATA executive also criticized the lack of harmonization and coordination among the continent's governments, which is causing confusion for consumers and uncertainty for airlines. Cerdá applauded the announcement by the United States to remove the entry restrictions still in place in many countries - such as all those in the European Union - and to allow the entry of all international travelers vaccinated against COVID-19 as of November.

Cerdá highlighted the situation in Mexico, "one of the few countries in the region" that never imposed limitations on the air sector during the pandemic. This has allowed domestic traffic to reach levels similar to those that existed before the pandemic.