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Part of that is geography. Few of them enterprise a lot past the Americas, blissful to serve prospects flying north and south on this hemisphere. They principally depend upon partnerships and codeshares to go elsewhere, although you do see just a few flights to Europe on them, particularly by way of Brazil. With tourism roaring again in Latin America although and European nations complaining about overtourism, we’ll most likely see extra within the coming years.
Among the array of larger names are nationwide and regional airways which have been round for years. If you’re flying throughout the continent or nation, most nations have a handful of native choices, in addition to ones that concentrate on travels to close by nations and cities, or areas much less typically traveled to by bigger airways. Always search on Google Flights or Skyscanner to show up routes you could not have heard about. There are extra airline choices than you most likely assume past what’s on this record.
As of now, listed here are the biggest airways in South America, together with one which’s based mostly simply north of Colombia however serving a lot of the continent.
LATAM Airlines
LATAM Creative Commons picture by Anna Zvereva
Formerly often known as LAN Airlines after which modified after they merged with TAM, this Santiago-based Chilean multinational airline is the biggest total in Latin America by way of routes, fleet dimension, and passengers. In 2023, the airline carried near 74 million passengers.
LATAM is the predominant airline in Peru, Chile, and Ecuador, and the second largest in Colombia. It serves locations all through Latin and North America, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and Oceania. At the time of writing, it was the one South American airline flying all the way in which to Australia. It’s additionally the one you’ll most likely board for those who head to Easter Island, in any other case often known as Rapa Nui.
LATAM Airlines Group is a part of the SkyCrew alliance of airways, so you need to use factors collected on Delta or Aeromexico to fly on SkyCrew and you probably have standing with the alliance, you may profit from that right here.
Search flights on LATAM right here
Avianca Airlines
Courtesy of Avianca Airlines of Colombia
Based in Bogota, Colombia, Avianca is the second largest airline in South America and bought even larger final decade when it absorbed one based mostly in Central America: Taca. So Avianca really has a number of hubs you may find yourself flying by between the United States and South America, equivalent to San Salvador or San Jose, Costa Rica.
Avianca served round 32 million passengers in 2023 and the airline remains to be recovering from its chapter submitting within the early days of the pandemic. They have gone downscale fairly a bit since then, shoving in 20% extra seats, easing again on their beforehand beneficiant baggage allowance, promoting off a variety of planes, and serving much less foods and drinks in all courses.
Still, it is a member of the Star Alliance with Air Canada and United, so it’s a superb factors incomes or utilizing choice and the flights could be a whole lot within the entrance of the aircraft, which supplies you a greater baggage allowance and entry to their airport lounges. They are reportedly bettering their enterprise class cabins as properly, so it might be value a shot to improve. They served 25 worldwide locations and go nearly in all places with an airport in Colombia.
Read our full assessment of Avianca right here.
Gol Linhas Aereas
Showing how a lot the market has modified over the previous decade, two Brazilian finances carriers have pushed down the nationwide airline of Argentina (see under). Rio-based Gol may overtake Avianca sooner or later if they will handle to resolve their monetary issues: the airline now serves round 31 million passengers per 12 months.
With the Brazilian forex fall making its fares extra engaging to foreigners, it could seem like in a superb place with guests from overseas. Unfortunately, the corporate has piles of debt and unpaid payments it ran up when the Brazilian actual was a lot stronger. As we write this, the corporate remains to be working however is in chapter. They weren’t worthwhile in 2023.
You usually tend to run into this airline when transferring round Brazil than you’re coming from one other nation. While they’ve 37% of the home market share, it’s a tiny 4% for worldwide. It has essentially the most locations in Brazil, with greater than 70 cities served.
Gol Airlines has 137 planes serving 73 locations, however the one ones in North America are Miami and Orlando (other than just a few Caribbean islands). Although Delta has a minority possession stake in Gol, the airline isn’t a part of any airline teams or worldwide alliance.
Search flights to South America with Skyscanner
Azul Brazilian Airlines
With their enterprise mannequin “to stimulate demand by offering frequent and inexpensive air service to underserved markets all through Brazil,” this suburban Sao Paulo airline flies all through the nation in addition to some farther locations equivalent to France and Lisbon.
The unique founding father of Azul was Brazilian-born David Neeleman, the one who based JetBlue Airways within the USA. He nonetheless serves as chairman. It began flying on the finish of 2008 and now serves 29 million passengers yearly with a fleet of 166 plane. It has not had a worthwhile 12 months for the reason that pandemic began in 2020. There’s been some hypothesis within the trade that Gol and Azul may merge in some unspecified time in the future.
Courtesy of Azul Linhas Aereas
Azul Airlines serves 162 locations, a lot of them Brazilian cities fed by slim Embraer planes. Azul does fly to many locations inside South America although, just a few in Europe, and it has direct flights to many Brazilian areas from Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida. The firm additionally has code share agreements with JetBlue and minority stakeholder United. It doesn’t belong to any alliance.
See extra about Azul right here.
Aerolineas Argentina
As with the nation it’s named after, this airline has had loads of ups and downs over time as Argentina lurched from one monetary disaster to a different. It has partly survived by having a near-monopoly on home routes till comparatively lately and by making passengers pay for every leg of their journey after they had a compulsory hub connection in Buenos Aires.
I’ve flown on this airline a number of instances and whereas the expertise is seldom memorable, it’s seldom dangerous both. They’ll get you the place you’re going and cross out some snacks and perhaps a glass of wine. In a rustic so lengthy from prime to backside, they positively fill a necessity.
Aerolineas Argentina served 14 million passengers final 12 months, half what the 2 Brazilian carriers above did. You’re extra prone to run into this one when scoping out flights from the USA although. This airline is a part of the Skyteam alliance with Delta, to begin with, so that they have codeshare choices. There’s no route map or itemizing on their website, however they seem to have flights to Buenos Aires from Miami, New York City, and Cancun.
SKY Airline
Based in Santiago Chile, Sky Airline is the second-largest airline within the countrye behind flag provider LATAM Airlines. It was additionally the primary airline to implement a low-cost mannequin in Chile and give attention to a large-scale sustainable development technique.
The firm additionally runs Sky Peru, a Lima-based subsidiary and the second-largest provider within the Peruvian market behind LATAM Peru. You will see this one pop up for those who’re looking out flights from Lima to Cusco, Arequipa, or Puno. Together the 2 arms of the corporate fly 29 jets in 8 nations, together with one flight to Miami.
JetSMART
Courtesy of JetSMART Chile
Known because the ultra-low value provider of Chile, this airline based in 2017 was an Indigo Partners funding—an organization additionally concerned with Volaris and Frontier in North America, in addition to Wizz Air in Europe. The animal-themed fleet of this low-cost airline travels all around the continent to 10 totally different nations and 33 locations, providing a superb choice for getting round inside South America.
The JetSMART fleet of 26 planes flies round 5 million passengers a 12 months and might get you from Santiago to Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Colombia. Via one other hub in Argentina, it serves many widespread locations in that nation on home routes.
Just be suggested that the reference to Frontier can also be a clue about how this airline is seen by prospects. It often receives one-star opinions in on-line boards like TrustPilot. The airline apparently caters to individuals who don’t want to alter garments after they journey. Their web site says, “Our charges are very low and quite simple. They entitle you to journey with a small purse from level A to level B.”
When American Airlines and the OneWorld alliance bought knocked out of South America although, they didn’t have many decisions left to group up with. So now you may earn AA miles on JetSMART flights and get your boarding cross from one place for those who’re altering planes.
Boliviana de Aviacion
The nationwide provider of Bolivia is available in at quantity eight on this record, a mirrored image of Bolivia’s dimension and its low variety of guests from elsewhere. This airline is the flag provider of Bolivia, owned by the nation’s authorities. It has a fleet of 23 planes and has hubs in La Paz and Santa Cruz.
Boliviana de Aviacion serves between three and 5 million passengers a 12 months and its worldwide locations are principally close by, however it has two long-haul routes to Miami and Madrid.
FlyBondi
This airline primarily serves Argentina from a base in Buenos Aires, although it does fly to a few locations in Brazil. It was based in 2016 and is named a finances provider with no frills. It flew round 4 million passengers final 12 months.
Wingo
Rounding out the top-10 of the biggest airways in South America is Wingo, a reputation that’s extra enjoyable to say than most of them right here. Wingo is one other low-cost provider, this one based mostly in Colombia, with its important hub in Bogota. It basically changed a home flight enterprise that Copa Airlines had in Colombia and Copa remains to be the proprietor.
I really took two flights on the airline on my final journey to the nation: from Cancun to Bogota and from Medellin to Mexico City. The expertise was just like what you get on most of those low-cost carriers, with additional costs for the whole lot they will consider however with fares that have been among the many least expensive worldwide ones I’ve ever seen. They additionally gained the prize for the most affordable drink costs I’ve seen on any airline: $2 for a beer or aguardiente, $3 for rum!
Wingo picked up some market share when rival Viva Air went out of enterprise in 2023. The airline served round two million passengers final 12 months and other than fairly just a few home locations and the Mexican ones I discussed, Wingo additionally flies to Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica. You may make your personal stopover from the USA or Canada and fly to Cancun or Mexico City, then head to Colombia on this airline.
Copa Airlines (Honorable Mention)
Copa Airlines is predicated in Panama, not in South America, however I’m itemizing it right here as a result of Panama City is a fast hop from Colombia and Copa fliest to a lot of the main locations on the continent. Twice I’ve flown Copa to South America from the USA they usually really supply extra choices than anybody in addition to LATAM from North America to South. They say they’re the airline serviing “the crossroads of the Americas” and that appears truthful.
Copa Airlines flies to 33 nations and serves extra U.S. cities than any airline south of Mexico. (Plus two in Canada.) They have flights from a variety of non-hub airports within the USA too that aren’t served by others. For instance, they fly from Austin, Boston, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Montreal, Raleigh, and Tampa.
See our full assessment of Copa Airlines right here.
Other Airlines of Note in South America
Once you get past the biggest airways in South America, the numbers from 11 on are typically regional carriers that don’t enterprise a lot past their host borders. There are just a few exceptions although among the many remaining Latin American airways that you simply would possibly wish to contemplate when touring round this continent.
Clic Air and Satena – Colombia has among the least expensive home flights on the earth because of a local weather of heavy competitors. Besides Avianca and Wingo, you’ll additionally see choices for Clic Air and Satena pop up, typically for fares which are decrease than the worth of gasoline to drive to the place you’re going.
Paranair – If you could have some cause to go to Paraguay, Paranair is the nationwide provider. The landlocked nation of Paraguay isn’t very large, so most of its flights are to different nations equivalent to Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Uruguay.
Search flights to South America with Skyscanner
Photos by Luxury Latin America besides the place indicated. Article analysis offered by contributor Alina Leffel.
