AB25: Latin American leaders' reflections

To mark the 25th anniversary of Airline Business, 25 leading airline industry executives who have helped shape the sector over the last quarter century, give their reflections on the last 25 years and the challenges for the years to come. Here three of the most influential airline leaders from the fast developing Latin American region  share their thoughts with us:

Chief executive of Panama's Copa Pedro Heilbron looks back at the transformation of the Latin American airline sector over the past 25 years and the emergence of some of the industry most profitable carriers.  He writes:

"Twenty-five years ago, few would have imagined that today Latin America would be among the leading regions in the world in terms of economic growth and development. Even fewer would have dreamed of Latin America's airlines being in the top echelon of this competitive aviation industry.

In the late 1980s, when I first joined this exiting industry, and up until the mid-1990s, aviation in Latin America was synonymous with badly run airlines (many government-owned, with aging fleets), inflated payrolls and obsolete technology."

Lan chief executive Enrique Cueto on why the strong economic development of countries in the region has helped underscore the profitable growth of Latin American carriers. He writes:

"The Latin American airline industry has undergone dramatic change over the past 25 years. Two decades ago, the region was dominated by state-owned, unprofitable airlines. Carriers operated old fleets, provided mediocre service, and had low levels of reliability.

Those carriers are no longer around. They have been replaced by privately owned, publicly traded operators, providing high levels of efficiency and service.

Latin America today is home to some of the world's most profitable airlines - efficient operators with modern fleets and high utilisation levels, providing punctuality, reliability and the highest service standards."

Executive president at Brazilian carrier TAM, Marco Antonio Bologna, looks at the growing impact of consolidation within the Latin American airline sector. He writes:

"First of all, I would like to congratulate Airline Business for its 25 years of existence - a remarkable achievement.

During this quarter-century, we have seen a huge transformation of the airline industry. Fantastic technological improvement, a strong increase in passengers - more and more people flying. We are not considered a luxury product any more. We are becoming very popular and customers are becoming more demanding.

Costs and scale are essential to survive, and client advocacy has the same level of importance. So efficiency is the name of the game for this industry."

• Read all 25 leader perspectives and messages and contributions from other senior figures;
• Airline industry figures give their reflections on the last 25 years in our special video report
• Follow the ups and downs of the industry since 1985 with our interactive airline industry timeline;

Source: Airline Business