After being severely disrupted by the pandemic, Peru's Latin American connections are edging towards pre-COVID 2019 levels. Peru's Export and Tourism Promotion Agency, PROMPERU, says that flights between Peru and Latin American countries have recovered to around 41% compared to 2019.

While there is a very long way to go to full recovery, this is an encouraging sign for Peru's airlines. Peru has five airlines operating on domestic routes, with a sixth, JetSMART having recently received its AOC.

LATAM dominates the market from its base at Lima's Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM). Others with domestic routes are ATSA Airlines, Sky Airline, Star Peru and Viva Air Peru.

There's still a long way to go in Peru

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Volaris will be starting routes from Mexico City, Cancun and San Jose (Costa Rica) to Peru from June 2022. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The connectivity highpoint was at the beginning of 2020, when there were more than 500 weekly flights to Latin American countries. These connected Peru to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Panama.

Airlines operating the routes included Aeroméxico, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Interjet, LATAM, JetSMART, SKY and Viva Air. However, the arrival of COVID-19 quickly closed off borders throughout South and Latin America, and air services became another casualty of the virus.

At the end of April, weekly flights reached 207, with several operators announcing intentions to restart services to and from Peru.

In February, Bolivia state airline Boliviana de Aviación or BoA commenced four weekly flights between its largest city, Santa Cruz and Lima. Current Flightradar24.com data shows this service has not operated since April 4, although the LATAM service is operating.

From June 1, Mexican LCC Volaris is scheduled to start Mexico City-Lima, Cancun-Lima and San José (Costa Rica)-Lima routes. According to ch-aviation.com, Volaris has a fleet of 101 aircraft, comprised of 97 Airbus A320 family and four A319-100 aircraft.

Other routes resumed in the second half of 2021 were Copa Airlines Panama-Chiclayo and LATAM Córdoba-Lima. Colombian LCC Wingo entered the market with its Bogotá-Lima route and JetSMART with Santiago-Lima, Santiago-Arequipa and Santiago-Trujillo.

A healthy LATAM is good for the region

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LATAM is adding capacity and routes and proposing to exit Chapter 11 before the end of 2022. Photo: Getty Images

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As South America's leading carrier, LATAM Airlines is a barometer of airline activity in the region.

In March LATAM had recovered to 67% of its pre-pandemic capacity, mainly due to the rapid post-COVID recoveries in Brazil and Colombia. The airline filed for US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020, as did Avianca and Aeromexico. In November 2021, LATAM filed a reorganization plan to exit its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The plan proposed an $8.2 billion capital infusion, coming from new equity, debt and convertible notes. If accepted, LATAM would emerge from bankruptcy with total debt of around $7.26 billion and liquidity of about $2.67 billion.

Leaving bankruptcy would be good news for 14 lessors who have 48 aircraft placed with LATAM. The ch-aviation data shows a fleet of 296 aircraft, with 72 active, seven inactive and 217 wet-leased.

In the active fleet are 31 Airbus A320 and 17 A321 and 24 Boeing 787 aircraft.

Looking ahead

As in the rest of the world, there is plenty of pent-up demand for travel in South and Latin America. With border restrictions easing and travel restarting, there are better days ahead for the airlines who call the region home.

How quickly the airlines bounce back depends on how quickly people start traveling.

Are the people of Peru ready to head to the airport again?