Flight Friday: Narrowbody, Turboprop Utilization Growth In Latin America

With Aviation Week’s MRO Latin America coming up in Panama City, this week’s Flight Friday looks at the last two years of flights for Latin American operators by aircraft class. 

Following global trends, it comes as no surprise that when compared to equivalent 2019 levels, the narrowbody class has been nearly 20% higher than 2019. The utilization is mirrored by an almost 20% growth in the narrowbody in-service fleet. The change of an additional 180 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in service, when compared to end-of-year 2019 levels (due to the grounding of the MAX in March 2019), has buoyed flight levels. Some of this fleet growth has been offset by the removal of some 737NG and classic Airbus A320s from the in-service fleet.

The widebody fleet at the end of 2024 is virtually the same as the widebody fleet at the end of 2019, with only one less in service at the end of 2024. As a result, utilization levels remain consistent with 2019 levels, with the number of flights closely linked to 2019.

When it comes to regional aircraft, we have two very different stories. The regional turboprop fleet has remained reasonably close to 2019 levels. However, the number of tracked flights has grown considerably, with some months over 50% of 2019 levels. The turboprop is popular in Latin America for helping connect communities in some more remote areas.

The regional jet in Latin America has followed global trends with a decline in number of flights. An in-service fleet that is 7% lower than at the end of 2019 has led to a decline in utilization of almost 20%. The removal of the Embraer E170 from the Latin American fleet and a 30% decline in the E190 fleet have not helped the aggregated utilization numbers.

This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization tool.