Key indicators:
Passenger Market:
- Capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), increased 5.7% year-on-year
- Demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), rose 6.4% year-on-year
- The average load factor reached 84.6%
Cargo Market:
- In international air cargo, 307,410 tonnes were transported in January, with 1.9% year-on-year growth
Air traffic in January 2026: key highlights:
- Regional air traffic reached 45.1 million passengers in January.
- Of the total, 54% corresponded to domestic traffic and 46% to international traffic. Within international traffic, 26% was intra-regional (within Latin America and the Caribbean) and 74% extra-regional.
- Brazil was the main driver of regional growth, accounting for approximately 44% of the net increase in passengers.
- The country carried 12.4 million passengers (+10.3% year-on-year), with 17 consecutive months of growth in the domestic market. International traffic also surpassed 3 million passengers in a single month for the first time, setting a new record.
- Panama and Argentina led growth rates.
- Panama grew 15% year-on-year, followed by Argentina (+12.3%). In Argentina, January 2026 marked the highest monthly passenger volume on record, with 3.42 million passengers.
- Colombia began 2026 with a recovery in domestic traffic.
- After closing 2025 with a 1.2% decline, domestic traffic grew 9.5% year-on-year in January 2026.
- Some markets recorded declines at the start of the year.
- The most significant contractions were observed in Jamaica (-29.4%), Bolivia (-14.3%), Cuba (-5.9%), and Chile (-2.6%).
International air cargo – January 2026:
- International air cargo reached 307,410 tonnes in January, with 1.9% year-on-year growth
- Colombia was the largest cargo market in the region with 69,311 tonnes (-0.6%), followed by Brazil (63,657; -2.2%) and Mexico (50,498; +7.5%)
- Regional growth was primarily driven by Peru (+9%), Mexico (+7.5%), and Panama (+4.9%)
- In terms of flows, 50.4% of international cargo had North America as origin or destination, followed by Europe (23.8%)
- The main cargo corridor in the region was Colombia–United States, with 45,160 tonnes, although it recorded a 2.9% year-on-year decline
“2026 begins with a 6.2% increase in passenger traffic in Latin America and the Caribbean, reaching 45.1 million travelers in January. Growth was concentrated in domestic and intra-regional traffic, with Brazil accounting for approximately 44% of the regional increase, alongside strong performances in Panama, Argentina, and Colombia. In the cargo segment, growth remained positive, although more moderate and concentrated in certain markets, reflecting differentiated dynamics across the region, with negative variations observed in Colombia and Brazil,” said Peter Cerdá, CEO of ALTA.
The full analysis, including country-level detail, international markets, new routes, and air cargo, is available at:
Glossary: RPK (Revenue Passenger Kilometers): number of paying passengers transported multiplied by the distance flown | ASK (Available Seat Kilometers): number of seats available for sale multiplied by the distance flown | Load Factor: obtained by dividing RPK by ASK.
Methodological Note
In this document, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is defined as the combined total of South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. This definition is applied consistently across all regional and international traffic analyses.
Domestic traffic refers to flights operated within the same country. International traffic is classified into two broad segments:
Intra-regional international traffic: flights between countries within LAC (e.g., Argentina–Brazil or Mexico–Colombia).
Extra-regional international traffic: flights between LAC and other regions of the world, such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, or Africa.
Tags: Peter Cerdá, ALTA
