Passenger growth in Latin America 'solid', expected to continue: IATA

IATA VP for the Americas Peter Cerdá stated demand for air travel and passenger growth in Latin America is "solid and we expect this strength to continue" (Routes Online, 07-Feb-2018). Mr Cerdá stated: "More and more people are joining the middle class in the region, increasing the number of air travellers... Airlines have also made significant efforts to reduce ticket prices making the cost of air travel competitively priced in many markets with much slower forms of travel like bus travel". Mr Cerdá however raised concerns of "any of the region's governments... not taking seriously their role in ensuring aviation has room to grow", with some exceptions such as Panama. "In the Caribbean extremely high ticket taxes have made it nearly impossible for airlines to build the much needed intra-island connectivity the local economies need", he concluded.