LATAM Brazil is gaining momentum in the South American country. It is recovering market share by surpassing Azul and GOL in the number of monthly carried passengers during the last few months. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline was Brazil’s leading operator.
Back to the top?
For most of 2020 and 2021, Azul Linhas Aereas has established itself as Brazil’s top airline (in terms of carried passengers). The airline founded by David Neeleman has benefited from a decentralized route map; while it has some hubs, Azul also flies many point-to-point routes, connecting smaller Brazilian cities. On the other hand, GOL and LATAM mainly operate from Brazil’s top three cities, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasilia. Azul claims that up to 80% of its routes are uncontested, a fact that has given the airline an undeniable advantage this year.
Nonetheless, LATAM may be bouncing back. In October and November, LATAM Brazil has surpassed Azul, and GOL in passengers carried, according to the country’s Civil Aviation National Agency (ANAC).
LATAM carried 2.3 million passengers in October, while Azul had 2.2 million and GOL 1.8 million. Overall, the three operators were below their pre-pandemic traffic numbers by 28.4%.
One month later, LATAM had 2.5 million passengers, surpassing Azul (2.3 million) and GOL (2.0 million).
A capacity recovery
LATAM has recovered 95% of its pre-pandemic capacity throughout Brazil, the airline said in a statement.
Diogo Elias, Sales and Marketing Director at LATAM Brazil, said,
“This year, we said that LATAM would be more efficient, and we decided to aggressively compete again in the domestic market and offer the Brazilians more options to fly. ANAC’s recent stats are proof of our work, and our growth in Brazil has only just begun.”
In 2022, LATAM aims to continue growing in Brazil. So far, it has confirmed six new destinations across the country, and it is studying at least ten more, added Elias.
The six new domestic destinations for LATAM Brazil are Bauru, Juiz de Fora, Cascavel, Caxias do Sul, Presidente Prudente, and Sinop.
If LATAM continues its ongoing recovery, it could retake its place as Brazil’s leading carrier in 2022.
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How has the Brazilian market recovered so far?
Looking at data provided by Brazil’s ANAC, we see the country has had 54.8 million domestic passengers. Brazil is still far away from its pre-pandemic numbers. In 2019, the Brazilian airlines had 86.1 million passengers by November, meaning the country is 36.3% below.
The international market has had an even worst overall recovery so far. According to ANAC, it has only had 3.7 million passengers the whole year. Compared to 2019 levels, Brazil is still 83% down. By this time, two years ago, the airlines had carried 22.0 million international passengers.
Brazil has had to face several setbacks throughout the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries imposed travel restrictions and didn’t allow passengers from Brazil to enter. Just recently, the country has been able to reconnect with the world again.
For example, GOL Linhas Aereas, which operated several international routes prior to the pandemic, only restarted its transborder flights in November. In 2021, GOL is Brazil’s 26th international airline (by passengers carried). It is surpassed by many international operators like Copa Airlines, TAP, American Airlines, Emirates, Boliviana de Aviación, and even Ethiopian Airlines.
Do you think LATAM will regain its place as Brazil’s top airline in 2022?
