Latin American and Caribbean airlines leaders gather to talk connectivity and regulation

Latin American and Caribbean airline leaders have arrived in the Bahamas for their annual meeting, hoping to use the 20th edition of the ALTA AGM and Leaders’ Forum to highlight the industry’s needs in a region that promises massive growth potential. At ALTA’s opening press conference on 28 October, the industry organisation’s leaders acknowledged that progress towards a more stable and prosperous aviation industry has been made on numerous fronts. But, they say, with aviation as such an essential requirement for connectivity across the region, goverments still need work harder to create the conditions for the industry not just to survive, but to thrive. “This kind of event like the ALTA leaders forum aims to bring us together once a year, to bring the people together, to show that we are walking the talk, and how can we manage the challenges that we have in our region,” says ALTA CE Jose Ricardo Botelho. Those perennial challenges include a patchwork of rule frameworks, over-regulation and high taxation, which in some countries threatens to choke the growth of air travel. Connectivity both between the numerous Caribbean island nations as well between those states and the South American mainland is also top of mind for leaders – some of whom had to take circuitous journeys to get to Nassau arrive for the event.<br/>