Latinometrics

The LatAm Covid Airpocalypse

LatAm's airports saw a 56% passenger drop in 2020, but the rebound is still far from pre-pandemic levels.

Ernesto Canales
1 min read
Area chart of LatAm airport passenger traffic, showing a sharp decline in 2020 due to the pandemic | Sources: Wikipedia, Latinometrics

Before Covid, Latin America’s biggest airports had been growing steadily. The eight major airports on the chart more than doubled their yearly passengers from 2008 to 2019. The trend came tumbling to unprecedented levels when in 2020, the same eight airports averaged a 56% reduction of passengers served due to the pandemic.

The massive drop is yet another way Covid has hit the region’s top tourism hubs and business destinations. While this year is on record to be much better than 2020, flights have reportedly remained much lower than pre-pandemic levels.

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