If you’re playing Scattergories or some trivia game and the category of airlines comes up, you likely won’t think of even one from the continent containing Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile, even though those countries host several. The largest airlines in South America are mostly operating under the radar on the international stage, seldom ranking near the top of best airlines lists, but also not at the bottom either.
Part of this is geography. Few of them venture much beyond the Americas, happy to serve customers flying north and south in this hemisphere. They mostly depend on partnerships and codeshares to go elsewhere, though you do see a few flights to Europe on them, especially via Brazil. With tourism roaring back in Latin America though and European countries complaining about overtourism, we’ll probably see more in the coming years.
Among the array of bigger names are national and regional airlines that have been around for years. If you’re flying within the continent or country, most countries have a handful of local options, as well as ones that focus on travels to nearby countries and cities, or areas less often traveled to by larger airlines. Always search on Google Flights or Skyscanner to turn up routes you may not have heard about. There are more airline offerings than you probably think beyond what’s on this list.
As of now, here are the largest airlines in South America, including one that’s based just north of Colombia but serving much of the continent.
LATAM Airlines
LATAM Creative Commons photo by Anna Zvereva
Formerly known as LAN Airlines and then changed when they merged with TAM, this Santiago-based Chilean multinational airline is the largest overall in Latin America in terms of routes, fleet size, and passengers. In 2023, the airline carried close to 74 million passengers.
LATAM is the predominant airline in Peru, Chile, and Ecuador, and the second largest in Colombia. It serves destinations throughout Latin and North America, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and Oceania. At the time of writing, it was the only South American airline flying all the way to Australia. It’s also the one you’ll probably board if you head to Easter Island, otherwise known as Rapa Nui.
LATAM Airlines Group is part of the SkyTeam alliance of airlines, so you can use points accumulated on Delta or Aeromexico to fly on SkyTeam and if you have status with the alliance, you can benefit from that here.
Avianca Airlines
Courtesy of Avianca Airlines of Colombia
Based in Bogota, Colombia, Avianca is the second largest airline in South America and got even bigger last decade when it absorbed one based in Central America: Taca. So Avianca actually has several hubs you could end up flying through between the United States and South America, such as San Salvador or San Jose, Costa Rica.
Avianca served around 32 million passengers in 2023 and the airline is still recovering from its bankruptcy filing in the early days of the pandemic. They have gone downscale quite a bit since then, shoving in 20% more seats, easing back on their previously generous baggage allowance, selling off a lot of planes, and serving less food and drink in all classes.
Still, this is a member of the Star Alliance with Air Canada and United, so it’s a good points earning or using option and the flights can be a good deal in the front of the plane, which gives you a better baggage allowance and access to their airport lounges. They are reportedly improving their business class cabins as well, so it could be worth a shot to upgrade. They served 25 international destinations and go almost everywhere with an airport in Colombia.
Read our full review of Avianca here.
Gol Linhas Aereas
Showing how much the market has changed over the past decade, two Brazilian budget carriers have pushed down the national airline of Argentina (see below). Rio-based Gol could overtake Avianca at some point soon if they can manage to solve their financial problems: the airline now serves around 31 million passengers per year.
With the Brazilian currency fall making its fares more attractive to foreigners, it would appear to be in a good position with visitors from abroad. Unfortunately, the company has piles of debt and unpaid bills it ran up when the Brazilian real was much stronger. As we write this, the company is still operating but is in bankruptcy. They were not profitable in 2023.
You are more likely to run into this airline when moving around Brazil than you are coming from another country. While they have 37% of the domestic market share, it’s a tiny 4% for international. It has the most destinations in Brazil, with more than 70 cities served.
Gol Airlines has 137 planes serving 73 destinations, but the only ones in North America are Miami and Orlando (apart from a few Caribbean islands). Although Delta has a minority ownership stake in Gol, the airline is not part of any airline groups or international alliance.
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Azul Brazilian Airlines
With their business model “to stimulate demand by providing frequent and affordable air service to underserved markets throughout Brazil,” this suburban Sao Paulo airline flies throughout the country as well as some farther destinations such as France and Lisbon.
The original founder of Azul was Brazilian-born David Neeleman, the person who founded JetBlue Airways in the USA. He still serves as chairman. It started flying at the end of 2008 and now serves 29 million passengers annually with a fleet of 166 aircraft. It has not had a profitable year since the pandemic started in 2020. There’s been some speculation in the industry that Gol and Azul could merge at some point.
Courtesy of Azul Linhas Aereas
Azul Airlines serves 162 destinations, many of them Brazilian cities fed by narrow Embraer planes. Azul does fly to many destinations within South America though, a few in Europe, and it has direct flights to many Brazilian locations from Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida. The company also has code share agreements with JetBlue and minority stakeholder United. It does not belong to any alliance.
See more about Azul here.
Aerolineas Argentina
As with the country it is named after, this airline has had plenty of ups and downs over the years as Argentina lurched from one financial crisis to another. It has partly survived by having a near-monopoly on domestic routes until relatively recently and by making passengers pay for each leg of their journey when they had a mandatory hub connection in Buenos Aires.
I have flown on this airline several times and while the experience is seldom memorable, it’s seldom bad either. They’ll get you where you’re going and pass out some snacks and maybe a glass of wine. In a country so long from top to bottom, they definitely fill a need.
Aerolineas Argentina served 14 million passengers last year, half what the two Brazilian carriers above did. You’re more likely to run into this one when scoping out flights from the USA though. This airline is part of the Skyteam alliance with Delta, first of all, so they have codeshare options. There’s no route map or listing on their site, but they appear to have flights to Buenos Aires from Miami, New York City, and Cancun.
SKY Airline
Based in Santiago Chile, Sky Airline is the second-largest airline in the countrye behind flag carrier LATAM Airlines. It was also the first airline to implement a low-cost model in Chile and focus on a large-scale sustainable growth strategy.
The company also runs Sky Peru, a Lima-based subsidiary and the second-largest carrier in the Peruvian market behind LATAM Peru. You will see this one pop up if you’re searching flights from Lima to Cusco, Arequipa, or Puno. Together the two arms of the company fly 29 jets in 8 countries, including one flight to Miami.
JetSMART
Courtesy of JetSMART Chile
Known as the ultra-low cost carrier of Chile, this airline founded in 2017 was an Indigo Partners investment—a company also involved with Volaris and Frontier in North America, as well as Wizz Air in Europe. The animal-themed fleet of this low-cost airline travels all over the continent to 10 different countries and 33 destinations, offering a good option for getting around within South America.
The JetSMART fleet of 26 planes flies around five million passengers a year and can get you from Santiago to Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Colombia. Via another hub in Argentina, it serves many popular destinations in that country on domestic routes.
Just be advised that the connection with Frontier is also a clue about how this airline is viewed by customers. It frequently receives one-star reviews in online forums like TrustPilot. The airline apparently caters to people who don’t need to change clothes when they travel. Their website says, “Our rates are very low and very simple. They entitle you to travel with a small handbag from point A to point B.”
When American Airlines and the OneWorld alliance got knocked out of South America though, they didn’t have many choices left to team up with. So now you can earn AA miles on JetSMART flights and get your boarding pass from one place if you’re changing planes.
Boliviana de Aviacion
The national carrier of Bolivia comes in at number eight on this list, a reflection of Bolivia’s size and its low number of visitors from elsewhere. This airline is the flag carrier of Bolivia, owned by the country’s government. It has a fleet of 23 planes and has hubs in La Paz and Santa Cruz.
Boliviana de Aviacion serves between three and five million passengers a year and its international destinations are mostly nearby, but it has two long-haul routes to Miami and Madrid.
FlyBondi
This airline mainly serves Argentina from a base in Buenos Aires, though it does fly to three destinations in Brazil. It was founded in 2016 and is known as a budget carrier with no frills. It flew around four million passengers last year.
Wingo
Rounding out the top-10 of the largest airlines in South America is Wingo, a name that’s more fun to say than most of them here. Wingo is another low-cost carrier, this one based in Colombia, with its main hub in Bogota. It essentially replaced a domestic flight business that Copa Airlines had in Colombia and Copa is still the owner.
I actually took two flights on the airline on my last trip to the country: from Cancun to Bogota and from Medellin to Mexico City. The experience was similar to what you get on most of these low-cost carriers, with extra charges for everything they can think of but with fares that were among the cheapest international ones I’ve ever seen. They also won the prize for the cheapest drink prices I’ve seen on any airline: $2 for a beer or aguardiente, $3 for rum!
Wingo picked up some market share when rival Viva Air went out of business in 2023. The airline served around two million passengers last year and apart from quite a few domestic destinations and the Mexican ones I mentioned, Wingo also flies to Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica. You could make your own stopover from the USA or Canada and fly to Cancun or Mexico City, then head to Colombia on this airline.
Copa Airlines (Honorable Mention)
Copa Airlines is based in Panama, not in South America, but I’m listing it here because Panama City is a quick hop from Colombia and Copa fliest to most of the major destinations on the continent. Twice I’ve flown Copa to South America from the USA and they actually offer more options than anyone besides LATAM from North America to South. They say they are the airline serviing “the crossroads of the Americas” and that seems fair.
Copa Airlines flies to 33 countries and serves more U.S. cities than any airline south of Mexico. (Plus two in Canada.) They have flights from a lot of non-hub airports in the USA too that aren’t served by others. For example, they fly from Austin, Boston, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Montreal, Raleigh, and Tampa.
See our full review of Copa Airlines here.
Other Airlines of Note in South America
Once you get beyond the largest airlines in South America, the numbers from 11 on tend to be regional carriers that don’t venture much beyond their host borders. There are a few exceptions though among the remaining Latin American airlines that you might want to consider when traveling around this continent.
Clic Air and Satena – Colombia has some of the cheapest domestic flights in the world thanks to a climate of heavy competition. Besides Avianca and Wingo, you’ll also see options for Clic Air and Satena pop up, often for fares that are lower than the price of gas to drive to where you’re going.
Paranair – If you have some reason to visit Paraguay, Paranair is the national carrier. The landlocked country of Paraguay is not very big, so most of its flights are to other countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Uruguay.
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Photos by Luxury Latin America except where indicated. Article research provided by contributor Alina Leffel.
