This is a list of largest airlines active in South America (beyond 100 thousand passengers/year). It is ranked by number of carried passengers.

By passengers carried (millions)

Notes * Includes

LAN Airlines LATAM Airlines Chile (formerly LAN Airlines and LAN-Chile) is an airline based in Santiago, Chile, one of the founders of LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America's largest airline holding company. The main hub is Arturo Merino Benítez Internationa ...

and TAM Airlines. * Includes

Gol Transportes Aéreos Gol may refer to: Places * * Gol, Gilan, a village in Gilan Province, Iran * Gol, South Khorasan, a village in South Khorasan Province, Iran * Gol, Bukan, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Gol, Chaldoran, a village in West Azerbaijan ...

and

VARIG VARIG (acronym for Viação Aérea RIo-Grandense, ''Rio Grandean Airways'') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline, and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went ...

. * Includes Avianca Colombia, Avianca Peru,

Avianca El Salvador Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, (''Air Transports of the American Continent'', known and branded formerly as TACA International), operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Holdings based in El Salvador. As ...

, Avianca Costa Rica, Avianca Ecuador, Avianca Nicaragua, Avianca Honduras and

Avianca Guatemala Aviateca S.A. branded Avianca Guatemala is a regional airline headquartered in Guatemala City. Aviateca was under government ownership and remained so until 1989 when it joined the Grupo TACA alliance of Central America and was privatized. It ...

. * Includes Austral Líneas Aéreas. * Includes TRIP Linhas Aéreas. * Includes

JetSmart Argentina JetSmart Airlines S.A., styled as JetSMART, is an Argentine airline owned by ultra low-cost carrier JetSmart, itself owned by Indigo Partners, a firm that also has stakes in US-based Frontier Airlines, Mexico-based Volaris, and Hungary-base ...

and Norwegian Air Argentina. * Includes VivaAir Colombia and Viva Air Peru. * Includes

Sky Airline Peru SKY Airline Perú, also known as SꓘY or SKY Peru, is an airline based in Lima, Peru and is the second largest airline in the Peruvian market. It is a subsidiary of Sky Airline, which is based in Chile. It operates scheduled domestic and intern ...

* Includes MAP Linhas Aéreas * Includes

Aerorepública Copa Airlines Colombia is a commercial passenger airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or al ...

and

Copa Airlines Colombia Copa Airlines Colombia is a commercial passenger airline founded and registered under the corporate name of AeroRepública S.A. in November 1992, and is the second airline in Colombia for international passengers carried after Avianca and the th ...

(subsidiary of

Copa Airlines Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A., (commonly referred to as Copa and branded simply as "Copa Airlines") is the flag carrier of Panama. It is headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with its main hub at Tocumen International Airport. Copa i ...

) Information was updated on May, 2022 Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay have no airline relevant to the South America market. Venezuela's information is not available

References

{{Reflist Countries (every airline but LATAM and Avianca)''
Argentina (ANAC)

Brazil (ANAC)

Bolivia (DGAC)

Chile (JAC)

Colombia (Aeronáutica Civil)

Ecuador (DGAC)

Paraguay (DINAC)Peru (MTC)
Airlines''
Avianca HoldingsLATAM Group

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Airlines of South America Largest