Brazil’s airline industry recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has had its ups and downs. Currently, the carriers operating in the country have recovered 44% of their pre-pandemic traffic, as reported by the Civil Aviation National Agency (ANAC). Let’s investigate further.

Who’s leading the domestic market at the moment?

Between January and June 2021, the eight active domestic carriers registered by ANAC in Brazil had transported 24.13 million passengers. We’re hoping ANAC updates its stats shortly, so we can see how ITA Transportes Aéreos fared in its first month of operations. The Brazilian startup had its two first flights on June 29 and June 30.

Azul Linhas Aereas currently dominate the domestic market. This operator has carried 9.5 million passengers and has a 39.5% market share.

One interesting fact about Azul was that it held the third spot, in terms of market share, in 2019. Azul has led the recovery in Brazil’s airline industry, and it is currently 20% below its pre-pandemic numbers. It has had the best recovery so far in the country (and one of the best bounce backs across South America).

Azul is set to publish its financial results later today, so we’ll see how it has matched its passenger recovery with the financial one.

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How are GOL and LATAM doing currently?

In 2019, GOL Linhas Aereas led the domestic market in Brazil. It had a 34.9% market share and had carried 15.9 million passengers during the first half of the year.

So far, in 2021, GOL has had 7.4 million passengers; that’s a 46.5% domestic recovery compared to its pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, GOL hasn’t restarted its international connectivity but plans to do it shortly.

In 2021’s first half, GOL posted a US$414 million net loss. Despite this result, the airline remains optimistic and believes the Brazilian market will rebound in the second half. GOL is so confident; it recently announced a deal for 28 additional Boeing 737 MAX-8 aircraft.

Meanwhile, LATAM Brazil has carried 6.9 million domestic passengers so far. It has had a 48.5% recovery from its pre-pandemic traffic numbers. LATAM Airlines Group (which also includes carriers in Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador) posted a US$770 million net loss in 2021’s second quarter.

Between the remaining active carriers, they’ve had just 265,633 domestic passengers.

What about the international market?

Due to the many COVID-19 variants, Brazil has been largely closed to international travelers. So far, not a single airline has surpassed the 200,000 passenger mark in the year, which is a surprising stat. Back in 2019, LATAM averaged more than 400,000 passengers monthly.

Between January and June 2021, LATAM is Brazil’s main international carrier. It has had 177,536 passengers, which is a 94% decrease compared to its pre-pandemic levels. As stated before, GOL is currently not flying internationally.

Actually, in Brazil’s current top 10 international airlines, LATAM has the number one spot, followed by eight non-Brazilian airlines. The number 10 spot is Azul’s, with 54,681 passengers.

Copa Airlines has carried almost as many international passengers as LATAM, with 174,184 travelers in the year.

Going forward, Brazil’s recovery depends on the vaccination rollout throughout the country. Fortunately, over 85% of all Brazilians 30 years or older will be immunized by the end of the third quarter this year, said GOL.

When do you expect Brazil’s traffic will rebound? Let us know in the comments below.