Brazilian domestic air traffic closed 2021 with recovery of 85% and expects “normalcy” by March

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the Brazilian Airline Association (Abear), the Brazilian domestic air network closed 2021 with a recovery of nearly 85% compared to operations in March 2020, the month the pandemic began.

December was the best month since the last 21 years, with an average of 2,036 takeoffs per day, and offers very good prospects for January 2022.

As HOSTELTUR has reported, Brazil has started an accelerated recovery process of its domestic connections after the end of the second wave of COVID-19 (March and April 2021), boosted in the last four months thanks to the expansion of supply in response to strong demand growth.

According to the Brazilian Association of Airlines (Abear), December was not an exception but, on the contrary, the best month so far since the beginning of the pandemic in terms of the number of flights in Brazilian airspace.

Brazilian airlines assure that by the end of 2021, the domestic market has recovered to 84.7% of the departures registered in March 2020: There were 2,036 departures in the last month of the year, compared to 2,400 in the last measurement before the pandemic.

With this outlook, the groundwork is laid for a great summer season in terms of supply, he said, and “normality” for domestic operations is expected to be reached in March or April 2022.

However, the reality and timeline look different for international air travel, due to the restrictions that remain in place. Data show that airlines achieved a 41.1% recovery in December. In this case, a full recovery is not expected before the end of 2023.

In this sense, Sanovicz added: “Abear is proud to close 2021, having gone through the worst phase of the biggest crisis in the history of Brazilian commercial aviation. However, it is very important to remember that for a lasting recovery, it is necessary to address the structural costs, especially the high QAV and taxation that still burden the sector and society.”

Brazilian Minister of Tourism Gilson Machado Neto said, “Tourism is directly linked to civil aviation, a segment that handled more than 90 million passengers per year in Brazil before the pandemic. I am convinced that we are moving toward increasingly positive numbers.”

In response to the tax demand, he highlighted in his statement that as a result of the work of a joint roundtable, the government has published the preliminary measure 1.089, which simplifies processes and reduces some operating costs.