Daniel Meyer (Chile)
I. Summary
Air transport is undoubtedly essential for tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the airport infrastructure that supports it faces serious challenges. A report by the Latin America journalistic consortium (GDA) Grupo de Diarios de América (1) reveals that many airports are operating at the limit of their capacity, with poor access and congested internal processes. The passenger experience is affected by long delays, overcrowding, and inefficient services. With passenger growth projected at nearly 40% by 2030, current investments are insufficient to address this issue. Technological modernization, improved land connectivity, and intelligent management are required to transform airports into sustainable engines of regional tourism development.
II. Development
Problems, Challenges and Projections of a System in Crisis
Commercial air transport has progressively become a fundamental factor in the functioning of the tourism industry. According to UN Tourism, 70% of international tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean takes place through commercial air transport, making the existence, operation, functionality, and efficiency of airports crucial — a topic that has not yet received sufficient attention from academia, professionals and tourist organizations.
The Grupo de Diarios América (GDA), a Latin America journalistic consortium that brings together leading media outlets in the region, recently published a comparative analysis of 11 key airports in Latin America and the Caribbean. This report provides an X-ray of the current state of airport infrastructure, operational challenges, traffic growth, and the gaps currently affecting passenger experience and regional competitiveness.
Regional Context: Aviation as an Engine of Growth
In recent years, airports in Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced significant traffic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, with sustained increases in both passenger volumes and flight operations. The GDA document highlights that demand for air travel has exceeded projections for this decade, forcing terminals to operate at maximum capacity and a growing need for investment in infrastructure, technology and services.
As shown in the accompanying graph, by 2024 passenger traffic had recovered to 2019 levels, and projections estimate that by 2030, airports in the region could handle around 1 billion passengers, implying a surprising 40% increase over the next five years. This growth may cause severe problems for commercial aviation and tourism develpment if not properly addressed.
Infrastructure at the Limit: Saturation and Delayed Modernization
One of the report’s central conclusions is that air traffic growth has outpaced infrastructure expansion in many airports, leading to major difficulties and obstacles, both in ground access and in internal operations.
These cases demonstrate that beyond modern terminals or recent investments, the quality of the passenger experience is seriously deteriorating, impacted by congestion, poor access, insufficient complementary infrastructure, and outdated operations. Addressing these issues will require coordination between governments, concessionaires, airport authorities, airlines, and tourist organizations.
Passenger Experience Gaps
At most airports, problems arise both outside and inside the terminals: passengers face long waits at access points and during internal operations. One the one hand problems such as the deficiency in land access and urban connectivity, will generate increasing diffilcutiesw in fundamental aspects of airport competitiveness. Efficient public transportation — such as trains, high-frequency buses, and integrated services — remains underdeveloped in many regional airport systems, limiting accessibility and harming the overall passenger experience.
On the other hand, internally, airport operations have also become a critical constraint. Key aspects include:
- airline check-in counters,
- security and immigration controls,
- boarding and disembarkation,
- baggage claim.
These components have become crucial indicators of airport performance, directly impacting user experience, perception, and operational efficiency.
The growing massification and congestion of passengers, along with the critical limitations in access and internal processes, are seriously disrupting the journey from departure to arrival, sometimes causing delays of 3 to 5 additional hours on top of the flight duration.
This situation is generating a sustained and alarming deterioration of the travel experience, requiring urgent and bold solutions to reverse the growing dissatisfaction among travelers.
III. Conclusions: Balancing Growth and Quality
The region faces the challenge of balancing expansion, sustainability, connectivity, and service quality — all of which will require coordinated investment among governments, concessionaires, and stakeholders in the air transport sector.
Several countries have begun planning the expansion and construction of new airport terminals, but given the high investment costs and long construction times, these measures will not be timely or sufficient to resolve the current crisis. Therefore, it is essential to also implement:
- significant improvements in land access,
- the adoption of modern technologies,
- the use of artificial intelligence, and
- smart airport management strategies.
These actions will be indispensable pillars for transforming Latin American airports into true engines of economic and tourism development in the coming decades.
(1) La Nación (Argentina), O Globo (Brasil), El Mercurio (Chile), El Tiempo (Colombia), La Nación (Costa Rica), La Prensa Gráfica (El Salvador), El Universal (México), El Comercio (Perú), El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico), El País (Uruguay), El Nacional (Venezuela
