IATA calls on Latin American governments to modernise air transport

IATA has unveiled a four-prong plan it says can help make Latin America’s air transport industry more equitable and competitive following the coronavirus crisis. The group’s regional vice-president for the Americas Peter Cerda says Thursday that simply returning to 2019 travel levels is “unacceptable”. He urges governments to join IATA in helping to rebuild commercial aviation in countries that have little alternative transportation infrastructure. “The industry has lost money [in the past years] and not been competitive because governments have continued to impose barriers,” Cerda says. “If this industry is going to be competitive – and have more connectivity, more and better service, lower prices, and provide more value to the citizens of this region – we need to be a strategic partner with the governments.” Since the global pandemic began more than one year ago, Latin American governments have provided less than 1% of the approximately $225b that governments’ globally set aside to help airlines weather the crisis. Travel restrictions, including quarantine requirements, remain effective in some Latin American countries, hindering hemisphere-wide recovery. Some governments see air travel as “an easy cash cow”, levying taxes and other fees that can make airfares unaffordable to many people in Latin America, Cerda says. “Post-crisis, we must address the region’s serious shortcomings, to make air transport more competitive on a global stage,” he adds.<br/>