The number of passengers on Peruvian domestic flights increased 17.65 percent in the first seven months of 2011 to 3.50 million, from 2.97 million in the same period last year, according to the country’s Aeronautics Office, DGAC.
Chilean airline LAN accounted for 2.16 million passengers during the January to July period, which represents 61.75 percent of the market for national flights. Peruvian Airlines had 562,682 passengers, or 16.09 percent of the market, while Star Peru had 490,083 travelers, or 14.02 percent, and Taca Peru had 195,218 passengers, which represents 5.58 percent of the market.
In July alone, the number of domestic airline passengers rose 18.2 percent to 575,805 from 487,207 passengers in the same month in 2010, state news agency Andina reported.
The cities that saw the biggest increase in passenger traffic were Cusco with 166,885 travelers, up 20.47 percent, followed by Arequipa with 89,850 travelers, up 4.41 percent, Iquitos with 56,640 passengers, up 3.55 percent and Piura with 49,971 passengers, up 59.84 percent.
In July, the number of passengers who departed from the capital, Lima, rose 19.3 percent to 278,620.
There are eight airlines that fly out of Lima to 36 national destinations, according to the report.
