American Airlines and Delta: the worst is over for Latin America’s weak revenue performance

Latin America has been a weak spot for airlines for more than a year; Brazil's economy has crumbled and currency fluctuations have driven weakness in demand in some of the region's other countries. But two of the US' large global airlines, American and Delta, believe that Brazil in particular has reached an inflection point, and they sense a slow improvement occurring on routes to Brazil due to a rationalisation of capacity in those markets.

After steep revenue declines in its Brazilian markets, American expects it could post positive unit revenue results in those markets during 3Q2016, while Delta is citing positive trends for its Latin American entity that should continue into 2017.

Of course, it will take some time for airlines to reach the levels of revenue performance they enjoyed before Latin America's economy began to contract, but the start of the slow climb out of the revenue doldrums is a welcome sign for a region that remains one of the most promising over the long term.