Worst-hit airlines badly need the cash that Latin America lacks

It’s hard to spot a plane these days in the skies over Latin America. Unfortunately for the region’s carriers, concrete signs of a rescue package look just as scarce. A fresh round of flight cuts were announced Tuesday, reducing travel on the continent to a trickle and raising the pressure on govts to help prop up the ailing industry. As the world goes into lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the airline industry has been particularly hard hit -- even more so in Latin America, where top carriers’ stocks have tumbled beyond global peers. “The industry will be in zombie mode at least until May,” said Luis Felipe de Oliveira, executive director of the Latin American & Caribbean Air Transport Association. “Govts need to understand it will be very difficult to recover even after the crisis.” <br/>