LATAM Airlines has been regaining its Brazilian network, and the carrier is currently operating 90% of the domestic offer (measured by the number of seats) available a couple of years ago. Moreover, the company is trying to bounce back and recover some of the market share it lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

LATAM’s efforts

According to a statement issued by LATAM, it is currently operating 541 domestic flights throughout Brazil. LATAM Brazil’s most important route remains Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro, although it is precisely half of what it was a couple of years ago, per Cirium’s database.

Additionally, LATAM is already operating in more than the 44 airports that it served pre-pandemic. According to the airline, it is regularly flying to 47 destinations, including the recently launched flights to destinations like Juazeiro do Norte and Petrolina.

In November 2021, LATAM is reopening 15 domestic routes. These are: Belém-Macapá, Porto Seguro-Brasília, Brasília-Foz do Iguaçu, Brasília-Navegantes, Brasília-Palmas, Brasília-Uberlândia, Belo Horizonte/Confins-Fortaleza, Curitiba-Rio de Janeiro/Santos Dumont, Fortaleza-Maceió, Fortaleza-Natal, Fortaleza-Recife, Fortaleza-São Luís, Fortaleza-Salvador, Manaus-Porto Velho e São Luís-Teresina.

Copa Airlines and LATAM are Brazil's main international operators at the moment. Photo: Daniel Martínez Garbuno | Simple Flying.

The international connectivity is also coming back

LATAM Brazil is also resuming its international connectivity. Due to the many travel restrictions imposed by other countries on travelers coming from Brazil, the country has had an 86% decrease in the number of international passengers in 2021, according to data provided by the Brazilian civil aviation authorities.

Nonetheless, the country is now coming back. LATAM is operating 32% of the international capacity it had in November 2019. The carrier has opened its flights again to16 destinations.

In November, LATAM Brazil resumed its flights from São Paulo Guarulhos to Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro Galeão to Santiago. Previously, LATAM had launched back its flights from São Paulo to Buenos Aires (both airports), Asunción, Bogota, Paris, Frankfurt, New York, Lima, Lisbon, Madrid, Mendoza, Mexico City, Miami, Montevideo, and Santiago.

Diogo Elias, Sales and Marketing Director at LATAM Brazil, stated,

“We will be ready by the end of the year to cope with the demand during Brazil’s high season. We are following the recovery of the market very closely. Also, we’ve reached a very efficient operational level that allows us to fly to more airports in Brazil than we did pre-pandemic. The recovery has been slower in our international market, but we are also flying to more destinations as the borders reopen. 

Azul Linhas Aereas
Photo: Getty Images.

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How’s Brazil’s recovery so far?

Internationally, Brazil has had 2.5 million international passengers, up to September 2021, according to the country’s latest data.

Copa Airlines is, so far, Brazil’s leading international operator, with a 13.09 market share. After Copa, LATAM holds the second spot with a 12.42% share and then TAP Portugal with 10.23%. Azul has just carried 109,991 international passengers in the year, holding a 4.38% share. GOL Linhas Aereas is just launching back some of its international flights in November.

Domestically, Azul remains the top player in the Brazilian aviation market. The carrier has had 15.8 million passengers, holding a 38.32% market share. A couple of years ago, the airline had 18.7 million travelers by September but only held a 26.8% market share, behind GOL and LATAM.

LATAM is in the second spot, having carried 12.6 million passengers up to September, holding a 30.51% share. GOL is just behind with 12.4 million travelers and a 30.11% share.

What do you think of LATAM Brazil’s recovery? Let us know in the comments below.