In May 2026, passenger air traffic to, from and within Latin America and the Caribbean reached 38.7 million passengers, an increase of 2.7% year-over-year, equivalent to 1.02 million additional passengers. The result marks a recovery from April, when growth slowed to 1.0%, although it remained below the pace recorded during the first quarter. As in previous months, growth continued to be driven by domestic and intra-regional markets, while traffic between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean recorded its third consecutive month of contraction.
Key indicators:
- Capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs), increased 2.6% year-over-year.
- Demand, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPKs), increased 3.2% year-over-year.
- The region’s average load factor reached 83.6%, up 0.5 percentage points compared with May 2025.
Air Traffic in May 2026: Key Highlights
- Regional air traffic reached 38.7 million passengers in May.
- Traffic increased 2.7% compared with May 2025, equivalent to 1.02 million additional passengers, recovering part of the momentum lost in April.
- Growth continued to be driven by markets within the region.
- Domestic traffic increased 4.0%, while intra-regional international traffic grew 3.4%. By contrast, extra-regional traffic increased just 0.1%.
- Traffic between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean recorded a third consecutive month of contraction.
- Passenger traffic declined 1.2% in May, weighing on growth in the extra-regional segment.
- Panama continued to record the strongest growth among the region’s largest markets.
- The country handled 1.95 million passengers (+15.7%), marking its fifth consecutive month of double-digit growth.
- Brazil regained momentum following April’s slowdown, while Colombia maintained broad-based growth.
- Brazil grew 2.5%, while Colombia expanded 5.5%, supported by growth in both its domestic and international markets.
- Mexico and Argentina posted contrasting trends across their domestic and international markets.
- In Mexico, domestic traffic growth (+2.2%) was not enough to offset the decline in international traffic (-4.2%). Argentina showed the opposite pattern, with international traffic increasing 8.1% while domestic traffic declined 12.1%, resulting in the country’s first year-over-year decline of 2026.
“Despite a more challenging global environment, demand for air travel across Latin America and the Caribbean continues to demonstrate resilience. The results from the first five months of the year reflect sustained growth, driven primarily by domestic and intra-regional markets, while connectivity continues to expand through the launch of new routes. Maintaining this momentum will require policies that promote competitiveness, investment and infrastructure development. Only then will the region be able to further strengthen air connectivity and fully harness aviation’s potential to drive economic and social development,” said Peter Cerdá, CEO of ALTA.
The full analysis, including country-level results, international market trends, new route developments, fuel price developments and air traffic data, is available in the ALTA Air Traffic Report – May 2026.
