For this year 2022 American Airlines, in the Multi-Country Latin America (MCLA) region, will increase its flights by 13.4% and seat capacity by 14.8%, compared to 2021. The airline’s operation will increase by 19.5 % and seat capacity by 2.3% compared to 2021. For the summer to Latam and the Caribbean, it will reinforce the operation with more than 300 daily flights.
“In 2022, we plan to continue strengthening our presence in Latin America and the Caribbean, operating this summer up to 333 daily flights to 87 destinations in the region,” Gonzalo Schames, director of South American Operations and Strategic Alliances at American Airlines, revealed in an interview with REPORTUR.us.
For American Airlines, leisure travel, especially in the US and short-haul international market, remains very strong and is approaching a 100% recovery.
“We expect this trend to continue. The recovery in international and business travel slowed at the end of the fourth quarter, given the omicron variant, but we remain very optimistic. The return of international travel is directly related to travel restrictions around the world,” he added.
However, they continue with the expectation that business trips will also return in full.
“As we have previously shared, short and medium haul business travel remains the strongest segment. In the fourth quarter, small and medium-sized business travel recovered roughly 80%, while large business travel only recovered 40%. We are optimistic that as corporate travel returns in a significant way this year, and as businesses return to the office and onto the highways, we will increasingly return to normal,” Schames said.