São Paulo – Demand for domestic air travel in Brazil was down by 1.38% year-on-year in January; in January 2016, demand had dropped by 4.11%. It was the 18th straight drop, according to results made public this Tuesday (21) by the Brazilian Airlines Association (Abear). Aircraft availability was down 2.74%, and the number of flights by the Brazilian carriers Avianca, Azul, Gol and Latam declined by 2.17%. In January, 8.6 million air passengers travelled in Brazil.
As for international flights, demand was up 5.4%, with availability climbing 1.94% from January 2016 and the load factor increasing by 2.88 percentage points to 87.74%. International flight carried 790,000 passengers, up 6.2% from January 2016.
Abear president Eduardo Sanovicz said one of the reasons for the better scenario regarding international flights is the exchange rate, since Brazil’s real has gained on the dollar compared with January of last year. As for domestic flights, he believes the poor performance is a result of the slumping economy.
Considering expectations of an economic rebound in Brazil, Sanovicz believes the industry could stabilize by the end of the first half and begin to pick up steam by mid-December. “Things are tending toward a soft landing at near-zero by mid-year and a slight increase at the end of the year.”
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
