TOP 15 of the most demanded national routes in Latin America and the Caribbean

Domestic markets have been recovering progressively faster than regional and international flights. Latin America and the Caribbean is no exception to this global trend, although each state has decided to take different measures when it comes to restricting travel and the states of South America have taken more stark limitations than in Central America and Mexico.

The Caribbean took a different course since it is a region economically dependent on international travel and tourism, which represents 16% of its GDP. This dependence led him to accelerate the vaccination process in the tourism and gastronomic sector.

Colombia and Mexico are two of the countries with the best recovery rate. The government incentive in the tourism sector drove the reactivation of the airlines. This allowed Mexican companies to have obtained their first profits since the start of the pandemic in the last quarter.

In Chile and Brazil, with delays but progressively, they were able to achieve an increase in their operations at the beginning of the third quarter, by easing internal restrictions. Argentina continues to be one of the countries with the slowest recovery, especially due to its socio-economic situation and the strictness of its restriction measures, recently relaxed.

The surprise was Bolivia, where its domestic market reached levels close to the pre-pandemic. Ecuador has the factor of having lost TAME, the largest airline in the national market, and Galapagos fervently took care of the health issue, slowing down its recovery. Peru continues to stagnate, mainly due to the lack of incentive to promote internal tourism and generate confidence in the traveler.

The TOP 15 of the most demanded routes in Latin America and the Caribbean

The links in the region have shown an interesting change in the type of traveler. Historically, the links with the greatest movement have the corporate one as a determining factor; and in the background those focused on VFR (Visiting Family and Relatives) and tourism.

Now the roles were reversed, especially because companies could – or rather, had to – adapt to being absent. Although some countries are open for vaccinations, some travelers feel more comfortable exploring closer locations.

A striking link is the one between Mexico (MEX) and Tijuana (YIJ); the Mexican airport serves both the American side and the Aztec country. Taking into account that the land borders were closed for more than a year, several travelers have chosen to use the most populated city in Baja California to connect between the two countries.

The inauguration of the Cross Border Xpress border crossing in 2016, which allows a direct connection with San Diego, in the United States, positioned Tijuana as the second busiest airport in Mexico.

–