In the year 2022, Brazil received a total of 88.54 million passengers. This was led by three domestic airlines – LATAM Brasil, Azul Linhas Aéreas, and GOL Linhas Aéreas – and one international airline, TAP Air Portugal.
A strong recovery?
Brazil is a big country with a lot of airlines and airports. In the first eleven months of 2022, it received 88.54 million passengers. Of these, 74.54 million were domestic passengers. This means that Brazil is now second in Latin America behind Mexico in terms of aviation traffic.
In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazil received 108.25 million passengers. This means that the South American country recovered around 82% of its pre-pandemic traffic levels.
According to data from Brazil’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), 2019 was a very bad year for the country’s tourism industry, as domestic travelers made up 86.17 million of all trips taken in the year. However, the 2019 figure is dwarfed by the 86.5% bounce back the country saw in November of this year. It seems that, even after a tough year, Brazilians are still interested in traveling.
Recently, Dany Oliveira, the IATA country manager in Brazil, said that air travel is becoming more and more popular, and that it’s important to keep up with the latest technology in order to keep up with the competition.
How are Azul, LATAM, and GOL doing?
Brazil’s three biggest carriers, Azul, LATAM, and GOL, dominate the domestic and international airline markets in Brazil. They hold about 87.6% of the market share each.
In 2022, LATAM Brasil was Brazil’s most popular airline, carrying over 28 million passengers during the year. LATAM Airlines closed the year flying to 54 airports throughout Brazil (up from 44 before the pandemic) and 21 international destinations. In 2019, the airline recovered 84.6% of its pre-pandemic traffic levels. This year, it plans to launch some very interesting routes, including São Paulo-Johannesburg. This should result in even more passengers travelling on LATAM airlines.
In 2022, Azul was Brazil’s second-largest carrier, with carried passengers of nearly 24 million. It was also the only carrier to fully rebound from the pandemic, with a modest 1.6% growth in passenger numbers compared to 2019.
GOL Airlines had the slowest recovery among Brazil’s top three airlines in 2022. In November, the airline had 24.46 million passengers, compared to 32.79 million in the same period in 2019. This represented a 74.5% traffic recovery.
What is the status of TAP Air Portugal?
The Portuguese airline was the most important airline in South America last year, and it was the only one to reach one million passengers by November 2022.
TAP Portugal welcomed 1.44 million passengers between January and November. It has an international market share of 10.30%, second only to LATAM’s 23% share (plus the combined shares of LATAM Brasil, LAN Chile, LAN Peru and TAM Mercosur).
