There are over 230,000 weekly seats between the US and South America, but what are the major points of entry in each continent and how can carriers exploit the growth opportunities on the network? Routes News examines the market.
Looking back at the last five years, seat capacity between the US and Latin America has grown strongly. In 2005, there were 109,927 weekly seats between the two continents, shared between 18 carriers, according to Flightbase (Sep 14-20 2005). Looking at the data for the same period this year, there are now 19 airlines operating 135,000 seats each week.
A closer look at the top 10 carriers operating from the US to South America in terms of weekly seat capacity are:
|
Carrier |
Weekly Seats |
Market Share |
|
American Airlines |
42,581 |
31% |
|
Delta Air Lines |
16,504 |
12% |
|
TAM |
15,963 |
12% |
|
LAN Airlines |
12,312 |
9% |
|
Avianca |
12,237 |
9% |
|
Continental |
8,017 |
6% |
|
United Airlines |
5,474 |
6% |
|
Aires |
4,814 |
3% |
|
Lan Ecuador |
3,856 |
3% |
|
Spirit Airlines |
2,541 |
2% |
|
Others |
10,669 |
7% |
|
Total |
135,238 |
100% |
Source: Flightbase September 14-20, 2010.
The market is currently dominated by flag carriers, however regional Colombian carrier Aires has gained a 3% market share with services into Fort Lauderdale and JFK. Low-cost operator Spirit Airlines also continues its expansion into Latin America, with services to five markets in South America from its Fort Lauderdale base.
According to IATA BSP data, over 10 million O&D passengers flew between the US and South America between March 2009 and 2010, with American Airlines carrying 34% of these passengers.
Florida is the key gateway for this traffic and 4.7 million passengers travelled to and from the Sunshine State during this period. With a Hispanic population reported to be in the region of 1.3 million, there are clear leisure and VFR traffic flows coming into Florida from South America.
California is also estimated to have a population of 4.7 million Spanish-speaking residents, but Florida's geographical location and shorter sector lengths makes it the key US gateway from South America. Fewer than one million passengers flew from California to South America from March 2009 to 2010.
Miami continues to be the major entry point for this traffic with American Airlines' hub there with 3.7 million passengers travelling from Miami to South America between March 2009 and 2010.
The five leading markets from Miami in terms of passenger numbers are:
|
Destination |
O&D Passenger traffic between (March 2009-2010) |
Carrier Share |
|
Caracas |
612,518 |
American Airlines 53%, Sánta Barbara Airlines32% |
|
Buenos Aires |
443,761 |
American Airlines 37%, LAN Argentina 25% |
|
Sao Paulo (GRU) |
357,605 |
American Airlines 45%, TAM 33% |
|
Lima |
332, 542 |
American Airlines 40%, LAN 36% |
|
Bogota |
330,420 |
Avianca 44%, American Airlines 36% |
Source: Airport IS, March 2009-2010.
There are still some significant opportunities for airlines wishing to operate between the two regions.
The following analysis refers to the number of O&D passengers travelling indirectly on routes between March 2009 and 2010 - showing that there are clear opportunities for direct service.
Orlando to Rio de Janeiro
- Of the 85,000 O&D passengers that flow on this route, American carried 44% of the traffic via Miami and Delta Air Lines carried 27% via Atlanta.
Los Angeles to Buenos Aires
- Over 69,000 O&D passengers flew this route with 27% of leakage via Dallas Fort Worth on American Airlines.
Miami to Valencia, Venezuela
- 64,000 O&D passengers flew this route and Insel Air carried 77% of these passengers via Curacao.
There is new interest from emerging carriers such as Aires and Spirit, with legacy carriers such as Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines also increasing their networks into South America, where previously American had been the only major airline with a significant South American network.
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