One of aviation’s great gifts is the connectivity it creates, facilitating trade, which in turn builds economic and personal wealth, ultimately encouraging more leisure travel. The nature of Latin America’s geography can make surface access challenging and time-consuming, so air services support both social and trade connectivity, making it an important driver of growth.

We have looked back to the turn of the century to see how Latin American connectivity has developed, and there are some interesting highlights.

Key Points

• Route Growth: Latin America now has nearly 550 international air routes, up 41% from 390 in 1996.
• Capacity Increase: International seat capacity reached 66.5 million in 2025, an 18% increase over 2019, driven by higher average capacity per route.
• Colombian Expansion: Colombia's international market grew sevenfold since 2000, with Avianca holding 53% of international capacity.
• Brazil’s Market: Remains the largest with 17.6 million scheduled seats and 185+ airport pairs in 2025, though still below the 2019 peak of 200.
• LCC Share: Low-cost carriers account for less than 20% of international seats in Latin America, far behind Europe’s 45%, signalling room for growth pending regulatory change.

How has international connectivity developed?

Focusing purely on international connections, these key statistics give an overview of Latin American air connectivity:

• There are now just under 550 routes to and from Latin America compared to 390 in 1996,  a 41% increase.
• 2025’s total remains slightly below the 2019 high of 572 airport pairs. Network churn has always been a feature of the Latin American Market.
• Actual capacity of 66.5 million is some 18% above the 56.2 million of 2019 as average capacity per route has increased to 122,000 per route compared to 83,400 in 2019.

How Does Colombia Contribute to Latin American Connectivity?

The growth of international airline capacity in Colombia has been quite remarkable over the last decade, with the market doubling in the last ten years and showing a seven-fold increase since the turn of the century. The significant growth rates in the market have moved the country from fifth place to second spot among country markets in South America with only Brazil ahead of them. While fourteen international airlines operate more than 100,000 seats per annum, much of Colombia’s growth has been driven by Avianca who now have a 53% share of the international market as their capacity has increased sixfold since the turn of the century. Perhaps surprisingly, low-cost airlines only supply 8% of international capacity to/from Colombia compared to 23% of international capacity from Brazil.

Which is The Largest International Market In Latin America?

Despite Colombia’s leading position in terms of capacity growth, Brazil remains the largest international market in Latin America with:

• 6 million scheduled seats this year.
• The widest range of connectivity with over 185 airport pairs connected in 2025, compared to some 200 in 2019, highlighting that the market has not quite fully recovered.

In comparison, international connectivity from Colombia has improved with fifteen new destinations being added since 2019 including Bogota – Manaus and Cartagena – Lima.

How Has Airline Capacity Changed at a Regional Level?

While total capacity to/from Lower South America has doubled since 2000 its proportional share of capacity has slipped from 36.6% to 32.2% as the share of capacity to Western Europe has increased to 17%, edging out North America as the largest regional market outside of South America. The growth in share to Western Europe, while built on a very strong Brazilian market, is heavily supported by the 1.8 million seats to/from Colombia which represents an increase of over one million seats since 2015.

Is The Low-Cost International Market Yet To Fully Develop?

Intriguingly, the international low-cost sector in Latin America remains at a less than 20% share, which is relatively low compared to markets such as Europe where 45% of international capacity is operated by LCCs, suggesting perhaps continued scope for growth from that sector in the coming years. However, achieving that growth would require a fundamental change in the ownership structures of the region’s LCCs which today follow the very common pattern of a single market domicile whilst their legacy carriers such as LAN and Avianca are based across multiple country markets. It would seem that only by adopting a pan-regional approach across South America will the LCC sector truly compete, although regulatory challenges may make that hard to achieve!

• What Are Low-Cost Carriers In The Aviation Industry?
• Latin America's Most Connected Airports: Infographic

There is no doubt that international connectivity stimulates economic activity and there is equally no doubt that in Latin America the market has developed strongly since the turn of the century. But despite that period of growth and the occasional airline collapse, structurally it seems that for the region to fully realise its potential perhaps a shake-up in the LCC sector is needed. Adoption of the cross-regional market approach as seen in Europe and increasingly the Middle East and Asia may well be required. The key question is who will see the opportunity and make that happen?