It took Latin America longer to emerge from lockdowns and travel restrictions than other regions, but this year it has been recovering lost ground with a vengeance, leading other areas in CTK growth month after month.
Patrick Fehring, director aero business of RIOgaleao, which operates Rio’s Tom Jobim International airport, estimates that the airport should have 70% of its pre-Covid international network back by now.
He adds that airlines have expressed interest in mounting or expanding service to Rio but are held back by shortages in aircraft and crews reports www.aircargonews.net
The pandemic propelled the share of the airport’s traffic held by freighters from 10% to about 70%.
This year it has retreated to 30%, but this is not for lack of momentum in freighter activities. On top of scheduled operations, Rio has seen a strong increase in cargo charters. Freighter capacity of Air France KLM (AF-KL) in Latin America was up 11% last year over 2019.