Latam travels more in Brazil now than before the pandemic

The airline Latam, which is in the process of bankruptcy, this month recorded an increase of 8% in the supply of seats (ASK, its acronym in English) in the domestic market compared to three years, before the pandemic.

In all, Latam currently operates 54 destinations in Brazil, against August 44, 2019. It is an unprecedented brand in the history of the airline, formed in 2016 from the merger between Chilean Lan and Brazilian TAM.

“Ten new destinations were launched in the last 12 months and, this month, we more than doubled the offer of flights to Goiás, Minas Gerais and Paraná”, he told Sheet the director of sales and marketing of Latam Brasil, Aline Mafra.

The new destinations are Presidente Prudente (SP), Montes Claros (MG), Juiz de Fora (MG), Cascavel (PR), Caxias do Sul (RS), Jericoacoara (CE), Juazeiro do Norte (CE), Petrolina (PE). ), Vitória da Conquista (BA) and Sinop (MT). “The new cities have increased the number of destinations we have in Brazil by 22%,” said the executive.

The Chilean-Brazilian company’s offer of international flights, however, is still down 33% compared to August 2019. So far, Latam has returned to 20 of the 26 destinations it had abroad from Brazil. Devaluation of the real, increase in ticket prices and health restrictions due to Covid-19 justify the retreat.

In the domestic market, however, the rise occurs despite the rise in ticket prices, driven by the increase of more than 100% in aviation kerosene in 2022.

Aline says, however, that the price increase is smaller for planned purchases, made in advance. “The expressive increases impact on the elasticity of the passenger who travels for tourism”, she says. “But we keep doing promotions.”

As for the demand for seats (RPK) in the domestic market, the most recent closed data, from July, showed a growth of 1.7% compared to the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. In the international market, the drop in demand in the last two years was 35%.

Expectations for the coming months are positive. “We have high occupancy forecast for the entire second semester, because there is an increase in demand for air travel after the end of health restrictions”, says Aline. “We grew mainly because Latam used the period of the pandemic to restructure and become more competitive in terms of operational efficiency”.

With regard to the RASK indicator (operating revenue divided by the total number of available seat kilometers), Aline states that the index grew 60.1% in the first half of 2022, in the annual comparison, and advanced 8.7% over the first half of 2022. 2019. “Our RASK is measured jointly (domestic and international) and encompasses the entire Latam group”, he says.