The second year of reactivation after the COVID-19 pandemic brought a surprise in the air transport market in Latin America and the Caribbean: Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport displaced São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport as the second busiest airport in Latin America and the Caribbean, a historic achievement for Colombia.
Between January and December 2022, El Dorado handled 35.5 million passengers (11 million more than in 2021), while Guarulhos handled 34.4 million (9.7 million more than the previous year).
“We receive this news with pride and satisfaction as it is the result of the hard work we have been doing together with the entire airport community, to turn El Dorado into the gateway to Latin America and promote national and international tourism,” said Natalí Leal, General Manager of OPAIN.
“At OPAIN, we will continue working to offer advances in infrastructure and technology, to continue to meet the growing demand of passengers and offer a better service every day to all our users who connect with Colombia and the world,” she added.
The concessionaire highlighted that in 2022 they received four new airlines: Plus Ultra, Arajet, Turpial Airlines and Ultra Air, while the network of destinations reaches 42 Colombian cities and 46 abroad. All this, they said, was the result of joint work between OPAIN, the airlines, the Civil Aeronautics, the National Infrastructure Agency, Immigration, other authorities and the airport community.
In recent decades, Guarulhos airport had consolidated its position in second place behind Mexico City International Airport (MEX), but in 2010, as the Brazilian economy and its air market took off, São Paulo’s main airport overtook the Mexican airport for the first time as the busiest airport in Latin America and the Caribbean, a position it held until 2015. From 2016 onwards, the AICM once again led the region (in 2022 it handled 46.4 million passengers).
Of course, this is always considering individual airports, because comparing the metropolitan areas of São Paulo, Mexico City and Bogotá, the Brazilian city, with its three commercial airports (Guarulhos, 34.4 million; Congonhas, 18 million; and Viracopos, 11 million) takes first place.
2023
Looking ahead, according to data compiled by Aviacionline through Cirium, by 2023 airlines will offer 51.2 million seats at Guarulhos airport, while at El Dorado there will be 49.2 million seats.
There are many factors that could influence capacity to adjust up or down at both airports, as well as demand responding differently in each market, but all indications are that they will be neck and neck again this year. Mexico City International Airport will remain well out of second place with an offer of 61.2 million seats.
