Latin America Inflight Catering Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The aviation industry in Latin America has grown at a moderate pace over the past few years. For the past three years, the annual passenger traffic has witnessed a modest growth of 3.5 Y-o-Y. In 2019, the Latin American passenger traffic was over 300 million, wherein domestic carriers accounted for approximately 76% of the passenger traffic. The introduction of favorable government initiatives has bolstered the connectivity of the region with the introduction of more than 270 new routes, both domestic and international. The increasing investments towards the development of critical aviation infrastructure in the existing and new airports for efficiently handling a rapidly growing passenger traffic are expected to propel the growth of the aviation market in the region. The socio-political instability, coupled with the fluctuating economic conditions prevalent in Latin America, is hampering the growth prospects of the regional aviation industry. In 2019, five airlines, namely TAM Bolivia, Peruvian Airlines, Avianca (in Argentina and Brazil), Fly Jamaica Airways, and Aerolínea de Antioquia, ceased operations. Furthermore, the grounding of B737 MAX aircraft has had a grave effect on the envisioned fleet expansion plans of airline operators in the region. The factors mentioned above are anticipated to have a similarly profound impact on the Latin America inflight catering market.

Brazil's domestic aviation market is the largest in Latin America. The country's economy is steadily recovering after the country's economy had hit its low point in 2015. The aviation industry, in response to the economic slump, has fought hard to maintain stability. The government is introducing various initiatives like canceling international flight fees (lowing the operational costs of non-domestic flights) and investing more into the regional aviation industry to enhance air passenger traffic and support the aviation industry. With such initiatives, the international airlines began their routes to Brazil as well as attract new investors to set up domestic airlines in the country. The introduction of the latest airlines and routes during the forecast period will open new market opportunities for infight catering coming. Also, the efforts of the major airlines in the country, like GOL and LATAM Airlines Brazil, to increase their fleet capacity, proved to be fruitful, thereby increasing the growth of the aviation market. For instance, Azul placed an order of 51 Embraer E-Jet E2 family of aircraft and had received six aircraft by the end of 2019. The increase in the fleet of domestic operators is anticipated to open new routes in the country, which will further bolster the growth of the market of inflight catering in the country. In addition to this, LATAM introduced a new dining concept for economy class passengers on long-haul international flights over seven hours, with free meals. The growing passenger traffic and initiatives, like the introduction of free inflight meals, are likely to propel the inflight catering market in the country.