{"id":351002,"date":"2025-12-19T08:18:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T08:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/latams-ceo-shares-vision-for-aviation-in-south-america\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T08:18:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T08:18:28","slug":"latams-ceo-shares-vision-for-aviation-in-south-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351002","title":{"rendered":"LATAM’s CEO shares vision for aviation in South America"},"content":{"rendered":"


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As Latin America\u2019s largest airline group, LATAM is a remarkable example of cross-border integration. Born from the 2012 merger between Chile\u2019s LAN and Brazil\u2019s TAM, the airline brought together two national champions to create a genuinely pan-South American carrier. A remarkable achievement on a continent where economic instability, geographic barriers, and regulatory complexities have prevented airlines from achieving their full potential.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, and despite the bump in the road in the form of a COVID-related Chapter 11 filing in 2020, LATAM has managed to consolidate its position as one of the world\u2019s largest airline groups. In 2024, LATAM carried around 82 million passengers and operated more than 340 aircraft. Its destination network spans 24 countries, which it serves from its three main hubs in Santiago de Chile (SCL), Sao Paulo (GRU), and Lima (LIM).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, under the leadership of CEO Roberto Alvo, LATAM has not only managed to leave Chapter 11 behind but has also embarked on several ambitious projects to strengthen the pivotal role the carrier plays in its region.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last few months have seen a stream of announcements, from the launch of revamped premium cabins and services to new long-long haul aircraft orders, to a significant investment in a new regional aircraft fleet that aims to strengthen intra-regional connectivity. All of this, while also trying to lead sustainability\u00a0<\/p>\n

AeroTime was recently given the opportunity to have a thorough conversation with Alvo and review the main challenges and opportunities facing LATAM.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo began his tenure in 2020, just as the airline was going through one of its most financially complex moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the pandemic started, we obviously tried to get support from governments, but they decided not to support us, unlike what happened in the northern hemisphere,\u201d he said \u201cAt the end of the day, we realized we had to enter Chapter 11. It was the only way to imagine a LATAM that could come out strong after that crisis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a little over two years in Chapter 11,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe emerged on November 3, 2022, and today LATAM is fully recovered. This year, as we\u2019ve told the market in guidance, we\u2019re probably going to be 15% larger than we were in 2019. During the pandemic period, we closed our domestic operation in Argentina. Apart from that, LATAM\u2019s footprint is very similar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of December 2025, LATAM has five home markets: Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil. The airline also has a subsidiary in Paraguay, although its activity there is pretty much limited to linking its capital, Asunci\u00f3n (ASU), to its main hubs in Santiago (SCL), Lima (LIM), and S\u00e3o Paulo (GRU).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additionally, LATAM is active in the cargo market through its subsidiaries in Brazil (APSA LATAM Cargo) and Colombia (LANCO). According to Alvo, cargo operations complement the core passenger transportation business, which represents around 90% of the group\u2019s revenue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Alvo and most of his team are based in the Chilean capital, Santiago, Brazil is the group\u2019s single largest market, representing around 45% of LATAM\u2019s revenue. Chile is the next largest market with around 20%, and Peru is third at 15%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo give you an idea, South America has around 450 million people and some 220 of them are in Brazil. The Brazilian market, domestic and international together, is probably a little less than 50% of South America\u2019s industry. It is also half of the continent\u2019s surface area,\u201d Alvo explained. \u201cIn fact, in almost any dimension you take, Brazil is half of South America. We have a 41% share in the Brazilian domestic market, which is the highest share we\u2019ve had since 2003.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0LATAM is also a leading player in its other core markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Peru we have approximately 60% of the domestic market and 40-50% of the international one. In Ecuador we\u2019re a little less than 50% of the domestic market and about 25% of the international one,\u201d Alvo said. \u201cIn Colombia we\u2019re smaller \u2013 26% of the domestic and about 8% of the international market. While we don\u2019t have domestic operations in Argentina, it is an important market for LATAM. We are the largest operator in terms of international passengers transported to and from Argentina, even if we don\u2019t have a subsidiary there. We operate almost 35 international flights per day in Argentina.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Building a cross-country operation across a region, which, unlike Europe or the United States, does not yet have a unified legal framework is not without its challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many open skies agreements between countries, but here you must get a certificate in every country, and you can\u2019t necessarily operate from third countries to other places,\u201d Alvo explained. \u201cUnlike European conglomerates [Alvo was referring to IAG, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM \u2013 ed. note] LATAM decided to have a group of airlines all under the same brand and I think it\u2019s one of the great decisions we made because it allows us to offer our passengers a single product, network and standard of service. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you fly between Quito and Guayaquil or between Rio and S\u00e3o Paulo or between Lima and Cusco,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou\u2019re always on something called LATAM, which is the same everywhere except, perhaps, for the accents spoken onboard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo added that this allows LATAM to function \u201cas one network\u201d as well as simplifying operations \u201cbecause we have centralized a large part of our functions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, in practice, while we have several air operator certificates (AOC) and subsidiaries, we operate as if it were just one,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt LATAM we\u2019ve learned to coexist with South America\u2019s diversity, and I think one of the things that has helped us is having everything under one brand. LATAM is LATAM wherever we are,\u201d he continued, before adding, jokingly, that the internal language of communication is what he referred to as \u201cPortu\u00f1ol,\u201d a mix of Spanish and Portuguese, once again reflecting the cross-border composition of the business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have meetings in Spanish. I have meetings in Portu\u00f1ol. I have meetings in Portuguese throughout the day,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t make a big deal about it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is LATAM\u2019s market position?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n

According to Alvo, the model used by low-cost carriers is no different to the model seen in Europe or in the United States.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very simple model with practically no amenities in which they try to sell you all the add-ons. It\u2019s a textbook case. I think low-cost carriers have space in South America, but at LATAM, we are neither low-cost nor ultra-low-cost,\u201d he said. \u201cLATAM\u2019s objective at the end of the day is to try to deliver a product and give our customers options.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo highlighted just what it is that sets LATAM apart from its low-cost competitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I think we\u2019ve learned to do well in countries like Chile and Peru, for example, where we are the only non-low-cost carrier, is to define what the non-low-cost product is. We don\u2019t necessarily need to over-invest in that product. For example, we don\u2019t have screens in airplane seats. We try to optimize the product for the segment of people who want to fly with a different experience,\u201d he said. \u201cIn that sense, for example, we deliver Premium Economy, which is like European business with a blocked seat, but we don\u2019t have those first class seats like US carriers. And we have in that Premium Economy a curtain that allows us to define the size of the class based on where we want to go and everything else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we invest quite a bit in the product, but we make sure that investment is what the market is willing to pay without having to define a product that\u2019s too luxurious for a customer profile in a region of the world that\u2019s a bit poorer than other regions. We have bundles that have different characteristics. The basic is just the ticket, but you can add flexibility, seat selection, baggage, etc. You can build your product \u00e0-la-carte and from the bottom up. So, when I talk about optionality, that\u2019s it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo highlighted that LATAM is also focused on soft service elements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like the word \u2018dependability,\u2019 which means being reliable operationally and every time you face a situation, we can answer and respond to you. We leave on time. And if something happens, that\u2019s beyond our control \u2013 cancellations, storms, whatever \u2013 we know how to maintain and care for the dignity of the people who fly with LATAM, so that they feel we\u2019re doing everything possible to take care of them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, at the end of the day, it\u2019s the network, the product, the people, the focus on the customer, our frequent flyer program,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have the seventh [largest] program with the most members in the world, with 53 million members.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

LATAM recently unveiled a revamped Premium Business class as well as a new Premium Economy product<\/a>, the first in Latin America and has also invested US$360 million to retrofit its B787 fleet<\/a> with new business class cabins.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re finishing the [B787] -8s and -9s. We went for a 1-2-1 configuration, with lie-flat seats. Before we had a 2-2-2 configuration,\u201d Alvo said. \u201cBy the end of next year, we\u2019re going to have all our 787-8s and 787-9s retrofitted. We have already retrofitted the 767s that fly in Peru and the 777s that fly in Brazil.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The entire long-haul fleet will feature the new business standard, with premium cabins, Alvo said, and will soon be installed with Wi-Fi.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Making sense of LATAM\u2019s fleet plans<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Earlier in 2025, LATAM announced a major order for up to 74 Embraer E195 aircraft <\/a>(24 firm orders and 50 options). The rationale for this order, which will add a new aircraft type to LATAM\u2019s fleet, appears to be the need to increase connectivity in regional markets. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first planes will go to Brazil, but some of the options may go to other countries in the region. South America has 200 cities of between 200,000 and 500,000 inhabitants. Half of those are in Brazil. And if you look at those cities, at the number of trips per inhabitant, South America is quite an immature market. In Europe you have about three trips per inhabitant on average per year, here it\u2019s more like 0.6. In Chile is a bit higher, with a bit more than one trip per inhabitant. Other countries have less. But when you break that down by cities, you realize that the large capitals are quite well connected and have one or one and a half trips per inhabitant. The small cities have 0.1 to 0.2. So, in general, those medium cities have been very under-connected!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even when accounting for the realities of South America\u2019s travel demand, Alvo sees plenty of upside in second and third-tier markets across the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true that our region, unlike Europe, is much more centralized. Santiago is Chile\u2019s capital and a third of its people. Lima is the same in Peru. But that doesn\u2019t mean there isn\u2019t a lot of potential in the regions,\u201d he said \u201cSo, the regional aircraft allows us to extend and consolidate the reach of our network. We think we can add 35 more cities to our network with those regional aircraft and [that] will allow us to strengthen our hubs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, what does the hub map look like? \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have Guarulhos (GRU) and Congonhas (CGH) as important hubs in Brazil, as well as Lima (LIM) in Peru and Santiago (SCL) in Chile. In Brazil we also have Brasilia (BSB) and Fortaleza (FOR) as additional hubs, and we see the ability to connect much better mid-sized cities within each country or even regionally as there is sometimes international traffic within the region,\u201d Alvo explained \u201cFor us, regional doesn\u2019t mean smaller, it means international within the region.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

The E195s that LATAM will receive have roughly the same capacity as the A319s it currently operates. However, Alvo noted that the operational parameters are quite different.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically a plane of the same size. The difference is that the E195 has much newer technology. Being a lighter aircraft, it has higher operational efficiency. So, it\u2019s not that we don\u2019t have the right size aircraft for many of these markets. What happens is that we need more efficient aircraft to be able to justify entering them,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what the E195 gives us. So, the added fleet complexity is quite a minor issue because we\u2019re not entering a different fleet size segment than what we already operate. We have 40 A319s today and we\u2019re adding 24 E195s. We know how to operate them and have many routes for this size of aircraft.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another aircraft that will considerably expand LATAM\u2019s envelope of possibilities is the Airbus A321XLR, of which the Latin American group has five on order. But how does LATAM plan to deploy them? \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe XLR works well from several places in the region \u2013 from Lima or Brasilia, for example, to the United States. It also allows you to fly to practically any city in the United States from Fortaleza. It could be an aircraft that enhances our connectivity to the United States and the Iberian Peninsula a little further. We\u2019re still evaluating what will be the best application for the first A321XLRs, but we haven\u2019t announced this yet. We expect them in 2027.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

AeroTime was also given the opportunity to discuss LATAM\u2019s long-haul fleet renewal and the order, announced in October 2024, for 10 B787s (plus five options)<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took advantage of Chapter 11 to simplify our fleet a bit. The truth is that we have more widebody aircraft in South America than the sum of all other widebody operators in the region. It\u2019s quite a large fleet for the region, but it\u2019s relatively small compared to the world\u2019s largest companies,\u201d Alvo explained. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about 65 widebodies, and the truth is that having four models in a fleet of that size seemed like an unnecessary complexity to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo said the carrier spent some time analyzing whether to go with the 787s or the A350s, before deciding to keep the former. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth are very good,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for LATAM\u2019s footprint, we concluded that the 787 was the right aircraft.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

LATAM also keeps a number of older B767s. How do they fit into this fleet strategy?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday they only operate from Lima, which is closer to the United States. Even if they\u2019re long-range aircraft, they operate routes averaging six hours,\u201d Alvo said \u201cWe expect to continue operating them until the end of the decade, and then most likely they will be replaced by 787s, or we\u2019ll see if there\u2019s any other alternative. But today we have nine of these aircraft flying.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

Interestingly, LATAM is a rather unique case of an airline having left one of the three major alliances to go it alone. The Latin American airline was once a member of oneworld . However, when Delta Air Lines became one of its major shareholders in 2019, LATAM left without joining SkyTeam, an alliance in which Delta is a prominent member. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe left oneworld in 2019 following Delta\u2019s investment and the set-up of our JV [joint venture]. The relationship is extraordinarily good. The truth is I\u2019m very happy, very grateful to have a partner like Delta, which is a great partner not only because of the company and its characteristics but also because of how we work together,\u201d Alvo said. \u201cIt\u2019s truly a pleasure, and in that sense we\u2019re very happy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But would LATAM consider joining SkyTeam?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always retain the option to participate in an alliance, but it\u2019s not our priority and, therefore, it\u2019s not in our short-term plans,\u201d Alvo explained \u201cWhat we have is a network of bilateral agreements with companies that are relevant to our markets. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have historical cooperation with IAG, particularly with Iberia. We exited oneworld, but we maintain relationships with almost all its partners. We still have codeshares with Qantas, for example, and with Japan Airlines. And we have a commercial agreement with Lufthansa, which date back to the time when TAM was a member of Star Alliance before it merged to form LATAM.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo also referred to the close relationship LATAM has with Qatar Airways. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cQatar, like Delta, has 10% of the company, but we don\u2019t have a JV. We have a commercial agreement; we have codeshares and an intense level of cooperation. We even have agreements in the frequent flyer program, and we are Qatar\u2019s distributor for the region. They fly to S\u00e3o Paulo and use LATAM\u2019s network from S\u00e3o Paulo, from Guarulhos, to distribute within South America. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship is also very good, but South America is just at the other extreme of the world and, in general, the size of the market is much smaller than flying to the United States or to Europe. In that sense the cooperation is more limited, simply because of the size of the market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Switching back to the Delta investment and partnership, we talked about what the Joint Venture with Delta has represented for LATAM.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFirstly, LATAM\u2019s network and Delta\u2019s are complementary. Delta had a relatively small operation to our region, and we didn\u2019t operate to Atlanta. And if you look at a map of the United States, two-thirds of South America-United States traffic is east of the Mississippi, and Atlanta is the best location to connect for those two-thirds of traffic. So, the beauty of the Delta-LATAM JV is that we\u2019re basically connecting our 130 destinations throughout the region with the 200-something destinations Delta has in North America, combining the best entry points in S\u00e3o Paulo, Santiago, and Lima with Atlanta. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also fly to Los Angeles, Boston, and New York obviously. So, first, the JV gives passengers the ability to decide basically how to connect from any point in North America to any point in South America. We also have mutual recognition when it comes to the frequent flyer program. If you\u2019re Delta Medallion Diamond, for example, we recognize you as Black Signature which is our top tier here, and vice versa. You have all the frequent flyer accumulation and redemption.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, what are the future growth vectors for LATAM?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, first of all as I already said a while ago, this region is still immature. Just to give you an idea, we have the number of trips per passenger that existed in Europe or the US in the 1980s. So, we still see a lot of growth potential within South America, both to connect South America with itself and to connect South America with the world. And if you look at Airbus and Boeing reports, in general Latin America is always the market with the highest growth potential after Asia,\u201d he said, before reiterating his belief in the size of the opportunity ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the coming decades, the possibility to continue developing the industry here is gigantic. LATAM\u2019s home is South America, and that\u2019s where we are concentrating our operations, and we\u2019ll continue to do so. We have hubs that are well positioned geographically to allow us to connect flows within the region and to the world,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll give you a fact that every time I think about it surprises me. Chile is the most developed domestic market in South America, more than one passenger per inhabitant, but the route in Chile that carries the most passengers is Santiago-S\u00e3o Paulo, more than any domestic route within Chile. And those are two of our most important hubs. So, with regional aircraft, with the XLR, with the fleet plan we have, we see still a very important growth potential to connect the region with itself and with the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Again, the new fleet acquisitions are expected to play a central role in realizing these opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the widebodies to be able to expand our networks. We have the XLR that allows us to enter smaller markets in Europe and the United States that can\u2019t necessarily be justified with a widebody. We have regional aircraft that allow us to generate polarity in the network. So those are the three major growth avenues plus the order we have with Airbus,\u201d Alvo explained \u201cWe still have almost 100 aircraft due to arrive between now and the end of the decade.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cOur three hubs fulfill different functions. Guarulhos connects South America with Europe and with the eastern United States. Lima connects South America with the Caribbean, with the western United States, and with Asia mainly through Los Angeles. Santiago has the best geography to connect South America with the South Pacific.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

On sustainability<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Sustainability is an area of particular interest for Alvo. The airline recently stated that it has managed a 10% reduction in carbon intensity expressed in grams of CO2 equivalent per revenue passenger kilometer (gCO2e\/RPK). LATAM is also taking an active interest in the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in South America, a region which so far has lagged other areas of the world in this space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike Europe and the United States, the region unfortunately does not yet have public policies associated with SAF consumption,\u201d he explained. \u201cHaving said that, I think the European model of mandates is the wrong model for the region. We are a relatively poor region that doesn\u2019t have the capacity to absorb the costs associated with having to load SAF mandatorily. So, I think the great dilemma that societies in our part of the world have is how to balance caring for the environment and reducing emissions with economic progress.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t have in this region is a public policy that tries to balance these two things and that allows the industry to develop in the medium and long term while at the same time reducing its emissions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo highlighted that, despite these obstacles, LATAM has laid out a sustainability strategy and is starting to act on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2021 we announced that we would seek to use 5% SAF by the end of the decade. We didn\u2019t do it as a commitment, but to signal our intention, because at that moment not a drop was being produced. And we said that we were going to privilege SAF produced in the region to also try to generate an industry here. Guess what? Still not a single drop is produced.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo also explained that LATAM has other projects in the field of sustainability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the idea of buying carbon offsets because I feel that if you go out and buy carbon offsets on the market and say you reduced your emissions, did you really reduce them? No. But we want to get involved,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, we have a project in Colombia. We set it up ourselves, together with 700 families, to preserve an area of the eastern plains of northeast Colombia, which is a floodable zone threatened by monocultures, mainly rice and corn.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 250,000 hectares today that are owned by these families, who have committed to not switching to monocultures, and to care for the species. All of this is obviously certified, and we buy the offsets from this project. So, in this way we get involved in a place where we can believe that the projects have additionality \u2013 if not, we don\u2019t do it in any way. And while it\u2019s not the cornerstone of our long-term strategy, it\u2019s the way in which we can advance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set ourselves two other goals. One, eliminate the use of single-use plastics in all our operations. We made a mistake because we said 100% and we realized that 100% doesn\u2019t exist, but there are still solutions,\u201d Alvo explained. \u201cI\u2019m sure we\u2019ve done our best here. And we are also committed to reducing our waste to landfill by 75% by 2027. This is the other way in which we\u2019re trying to contribute to environmental care while we try to find a way to be able to start buying SAF at a cost that allows us to remain competitive without passing on the full cost to our customers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The US is a major market for LATAM. Has the airline noticed any effect from the tightening of border policies?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe operate from the Southern Cone mainly. Migratorily it\u2019s much less exposed to the United States than Central America or Mexico. Therefore, the impact of the American government\u2019s policies has probably been felt less because we have fewer migratory flows,\u201d Alvo explained. \u201cWhat we have seen is a drop in demand from Chile, mainly to the United States. Chile is the only country that has a visa waiver with the United States, and there have been concerns at some point that Chile could lose this. But as of today, it hasn\u2019t lost it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe signals from the American government are even positive, but it\u2019s the only place where we\u2019ve seen a relatively limited impact on flight demand. Otherwise, the truth is, all these things haven\u2019t had a viable effect on our operation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

LATAM is also quite a large cargo operator, not only in its region, but by global standards.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What are the drivers of this business?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth America has about 6% of world cargo traffic. The cargo business is a bit different. The big importing countries are normally on the Atlantic, Brazil and Argentina when it\u2019s doing well, while the big exporting countries are those of the Pacific, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. They import goods \u2013 spare parts, phones, manufactured goods, and they export raw materials, such as salmon, flowers, asparagus, that kind of thing, so to understand cargo you have to think that you have to go down through the Atlantic and up through the Pacific \u2013 that\u2019s the flow. It\u2019s a market where we have close to 50% market share to the United States and about 30% to Europe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once again, the looming threat of tariffs and border closures came up in the conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cExcept Brazil, which has a 50% tariff that Trump put on a while ago because of the Bolsonaro issue, the other countries in South America basically maintain a 10% tariff agreement with the United States, which hasn\u2019t impacted exports from the region today,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd Brazil, while it has very high tariffs, is importing more than exporting, therefore, it doesn\u2019t affect much.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big emerging market we\u2019ve had in cargo is cross-border e-commerce. There are many e-commerce companies coming from China today, like Shein and others. Today it is the fastest-growing segment but continues to be relatively small. It\u2019s approximately 15% of total volume.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alvo didn\u2019t appear to be too concerned about the potential disruption that a trade war between the US and China could bring to the global cargo market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big world cargo market is Transpacific, which is from China mainly to the United States, and must be about 35% of world traffic. But we\u2019re isolated from this China-United States dynamic because the products that come to the region at most transit through the United States. They come mostly through Europe. This is the thing from Asia to South America; it doesn\u2019t matter if you come from the left or from the right, it\u2019s more or less the same distance, which makes it a bit easier to move flows. If there are any customs problem in the United States, they come through Europe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/h2>\n

To conclude the conversation, AeroTime asked Alvo to share his view on the future of LATAM over the next decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI see high growth potential. I think the industry can grow 5-6% per year in terms of traffic in the next three to five years,\u201d he said \u201cThe regulatory issue always exists, but this is a region that for many decades was very closed. Today it\u2019s totally open. So that stopped being an issue.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the most important challenge we have is how to continue developing the business while, at the same time, advancing in an emissions reduction agenda. South America is gigantic; between Santiago and Bogot\u00e1 there\u2019s a six-hour trip. The whole length of Chile is the same as Lisbon to Moscow. There are mountain ranges, deserts, and jungles \u2013 so the big challenge for the coming years is, how do we balance this equation? How do we make the industry reduce its emissions but at the same time do so without affecting connectivity in many societies?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMany communities here depend on-air transport,\u201d he added \u201cTake Manaus, a city of two million inhabitants stuck in the middle of the Amazon. Without air connectivity, Manaus wouldn\u2019t exist. So, this is the most important challenge for me. I feel that at LATAM, as the most important airline group in South America, we have a responsibility to lead on this path. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve made the commitment to try to develop while caring for the environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Latin America\u2019s largest airline group, LATAM is a remarkable example of cross-border integration. Born from the 2012 merger between Chile\u2019s LAN and Brazil\u2019s TAM, the airline brought together two national champions to create a genuinely pan-South American carrier. A remarkable achievement on a continent where economic instability, geographic barriers, and regulatory complexities have prevented […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":351003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12024],"tags":[2708,5167,11527,172293,14371,6658,8767],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-351002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aerospace","tag-america","tag-aviation","tag-ceo","tag-latams","tag-shares","tag-south","tag-vision"],"yoast_head":"\nLATAM's CEO shares vision for aviation in South America - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351002\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LATAM's CEO shares vision for aviation in South America - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Latin America\u2019s largest airline group, LATAM is a remarkable example of cross-border integration. 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