The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) announced today that Latin America and Caribbean airlines carried 295.5 million passengers in 2018, up 5.7% – or 16 million more passengers – from the previous year.
Traffic (RPK) grew 7.6% and capacity (ASK) increased 7.9%, bringing up the load factor to 81.7% or 0.2 percentage points lower than in 2017. (see table 1).
The number of passengers carried during December 2018 increased 8.9% versus the same month of the previous year, reaching 26.6 million passengers. In that month, traffic (RPK) rose 7.8%, capacity (ASK) increased 8%, and the passenger load factor reached 81.3%, 0.1 percentage points lower than December 2017.
Monthly Passenger Traffic Growth
Traffic to/from Latin America & Caribbean
Latin America and Caribbean airlines carried 30.1 million passengers to and from Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018, up 11.2% from the previous year (see table 2). Traffic (RPK) grew 9.5% and capacity (ASK) increased 10.1%, bringing the load factor to 82.1%.
To/From Latin America & Caribbean Traffic Distribution
Traffic data from the following airlines is included in this report: Aerolíneas Argentinas (includes Austral), Aeromar, Aeromexico Connect, Aeromexico, Air Antilles, Air Panama, Amaszonas, Andes Líneas Aéreas, Aruba Airlines, ASERCA Airlines, Avianca Brasil, Avianca Holdings, AVIOR Airlines, Azul Airlines, Bahamasair, Boliviana de Aviación – BoA, Caicos Express Airways, Calafia Airlines, Caribbean Airlines, Cayman Airways, CM Airlines, Conviasa, Copa Airlines Colombia, Copa Airlines, Cubana de Aviacion S.A, Easyfly S. A., Ecojet, Fly Jamaica, Flybondi, FlyMontserrat, Insel Air, Intercaribbean Airways Ltd, Interjet, Jetsmart, LASER Airlines, LATAM Airlines Group, LC Peru, LIAT , Link Conexion Aerea S.A. de C.V, Maya Island Air, NatureAir, Passaredo, PAWA Dominicana, Peruvian Airlines, RUTACA, Saint Barth Commuter, SANSA Airlines, SATENA, Seaborne Airlines, Sky Airline, Skybahamas, Southern Air Charter, Star Peru, Sunrise Airways, Surinam Airways, TAG Airlines , TAME Línea Aérea del Ecuador, TAR Aerolineas, Tropic Air, VI Airlink, VivaAerobus, VivaAir Colombia, VivaAir Peru, Volaris, and Windward Island Airways International.
Glossary RPK (Revenue Passenger Kilometers) number of passengers carried times the distance traveled | ASK (Available Seat Kilometers) number of seats available for sale times the distance traveled | PLF Passenger Load Factor, obtained by dividing the RPKs by the ASKs | FTK (Freight Ton Kilometers) number of tons of freight carried times the distance traveled.
