Several airlines have gone out of business already this year, including Hungary’s national carrier Malev, while American Airlines is in bankruptcy and fighting off takeover bids. In Latin America, however, it’s a different story entirely.

Airlines in Latin America are taking to the skies in increasing numbers. “According to the International Air Transport Association, the region is the fastest-growing airline market in the world, with passenger-demand growth of 10.2% last year, more than double North America’s 4.0%.”

As this article in Barron’s shows, the effect is widespread. Copa Airlines’ revenue is up 30% and traffic is up 22% year-over-year. The merged Avianca and Taca saw a traffic rise of 40% and a tripling of profits. LAN is opening new routes after buying up the #2 carrier in Colombia.

Brazil’s Gol is not looking as healthy, but future prospects are still good. The resource-based economy is doing well and both the World Cup and Olympics are on the way in coming years.

The same writer recently did an interview in the Los Angeles Times with Fabio Vellegas, CEO of AviancaTaca. Check that out for some more insight on that carrier.

So when you pull up flights on your favorite booking engine, make sure it includes these other carriers. Not only are they better-run, they also offer more amenities and better service. I usually find that Vayama.com has the best selection of international carriers.

I just attended Mexico’s main annual travel trade conference, held this year in Puerto Vallart/Riviera Nayarit and got the scoop on what’s new and important in Mexico Tourism. Despite the drumbeat of negative press, Mexico had a record year for visitors in 2011, with nearly 23 million people arriving from international destinations. The U.S. sent a few less, but Canada sent 7% more and new markets like Brazil (up 67%) more than took up the slack.

On the destination front, I’m really pleased to see a concerted and aggressive effort to spread out the tourism base to lesser-known towns and cities, especially those that aren’t beach destinations. The Pueblos Magicos (Magic Towns) program has been so successful that it has grown to 54 destinations. It gives special places with character extra funds to spruce up the city and up the game in terms of infrastructure and hospitality staff training. It encompasses places like the town of Tequila in Jalisco, Patzcuaro near Morelia, Todos Santos north of Cabo San Lucas, and Jerez near Zacatecas (a shop there pictured to the right).

The national government is also putting resources into specifically promoting the UNESCO World Heritage cities. For the most part these are safe, beautiful, under-the-radar cities, places like Campeche (west of Merida), Zacatecas, and my sometimes home of Guanajuato.

Travel Alerts

Another big initiative has been in getting the U.S. State Department to be more specific and accurate in its travel alerts. This has been a productive dialogue, with the alerts getting much more useful now (instead of just treating the whole country the same) and they’re even using maps to pinpoint problem areas. Unfortunately, Texas, a state that thinks it’s an independent country, has ignored all that and once again told Spring Break students to “avoid Mexico.” This despite the fact that the most popular resort areas for Americans/Canadians are far safer than Houston or Dallas by any crime measure you look at.

More and Better Air Connections

It’s no surprise that the death of Mexicana a few years ago put a serious dent in the flight options for visiting Mexico, especially from Europe. Other airlines have stepped in to fill the gap in some cases, but it’s taken years for the country to claw its way back and it’s currently at 88% of the international routes it had before that. Getting there, but still not ideal. So the government is pushing hard to get more flights in and are having some success that should improve the situation, both from Europe and the U.S. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes on this, so it should get better late this year and next.

The flip side of that is that the domestic air situation has improved dramatically. There are now five viable and seemingly healthy airlines making domestic flights and some to the U.S.: Aeromar, Interjet, Volaris, Aerobus, and the old standby Aeromexico. If you live in the Southwest, one of these guys may be serving a city near you or will start soon. I’m excited that Interjet is now offering a flight from Miami to Mexico City.

Infrastructure

While our crumbling U.S. infrastructure is suffering from political gridlock, Mexico is going full speed ahead. Nearing completion right now are a bridge over a gorge that will allow fast transit between Mazatlan and Durango. That cuts down the driving time between the U.S. and Mazatlan to 12 hours. There’s also a new airport highway that will get you to the Golden Zone faster.

Other major highways are cutting down bus or driving times. Examples are Morealia to Zacatecas, Mexico City to Puebla, and Oaxaca City to Huatulco.

Also, the Green Angels roadside assistance program has expanded into a general tourism assistance hotline. If you have a problem on your vacation, call 078 from a local phone. They’ll help you sort it out.

Related links from Luxury Latin America:
The best hotel in Patzcuaro, the best hotels in Guanajuato, and the luxury hacienda hotels in Campeche.

The slogan of Mexican airline Interjet translates to “fly better and more for less.” In my experience, it holds true: the price is right, often as low as Aerobus, but without fee piled upon fee to jack up the final price.

The experience is a pleasant surprise as well, with the kind of amenities you would expect from a legacy airline in the old days: drink service with cocktails, snacks, and smiling attendants ready to make you comfortable. The airline even has its own in-flight magazine, though it’s in Spanish only. The wide body Airbus A320 I was on from Mexico City to Merida had leather seats and a seat pitch greater than Aeromexico offers on many flights.

Internet flies to more than 20 airports from its hub in Mexico City. Yes, Mexico City proper: most flights are from Terminal 1 of MEX, not Toluca—though they do fly from that airport as well. Their destinations include Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, Hermosilla, Merida, Cancun, and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. They also hit a lot of business center cities.

One interesting stop on their itinerary for travelers is Chetumal, in the very south of Quintana Roo state. From there can scoot across the border and be in Belize. (Or hang around and check out bargain property prices around Lake Bacalar.) They also fly to Guatemala City.

The check-in process was a little funky in Mexico City as each agent had his/her own line instead of all of them feeding into a “next available” situation. When four guys in front of me decided to check eight overweight and oversized bags, that automatically adding 20 minutes to my wait time, even though I was next in line. But everyone gets and assigned seat and everyone checks in by zone. You can check one bag up to 25 kilos for no extra charge. In other words, they act like you’re a customer instead of a fee generation machine. Very civilized. Here’s another nice touch:

Interjet is the only airline that grants you, via Internet, the functionality of name changing. For only 250 pesos plus TAX per passenger-segment, you can assign your place to anyone you wish, it doesn’t matter that your round trip has been used partially.

I would gladly fly Interjet any time I have the opportunity in Mexico. There’s no first class luxe experience, but since economy treatment here is as good as business class on most U.S. airlines, I’ll take it. Especially when I pull up their easy-to-use website in both Spanish and English. Right now, for instance, you can fly from Mexico City to Chiapas for under $200 round trip. Or Guadalajara to Los Cabos for about $30 more.

See more at the Interjet website.

I wrote about Copa Airlines back in 2008, when I flew down to Panama for the MV Discovery Panama Yacht Cruise.

Last month I had the opportunity to fly with them once again, this time stopping in Panama City for a while, then continuing down to Lima, Peru. This trip reinforced my feeling that for much of Latin America, this airline is your best choice, especially if you can’t buy a business class ticket or score an upgrade on one of its competitors. Compared to any U.S. airline flying to Latin America, Copa offers a far better experience in economy, plus you can earn Continental OnePass miles for your trip. (Soon to be United/Continental miles.)

The one drawback to Copa is the consistently long lines to check in. Get to the airport plenty early. This is not unique to them of course, but I heard two frequent travelers grumble that the name should be “Cola Airlines,” the joke being that “cola” is a word for tail or line in Spanish. If you’ve got elite status on Continental, you can jump this line and save a huge amount of time. Checking in online beforehand can help in some airports as that puts you in a different line that may be shorter.

The actual check-in process was simple and friendly for all four of my flight legs, however, and my checked baggage arrived intact on the other end. As I pointed out in my review three years ago, the gate agents are refreshingly helpful compared to their legacy U.S. airline counterparts.

The real payoff is the service on the planes themselves. They are set up like Continental’s, with a rather routine business class set-up and coach seats with average pitch. Seats are usually leather, however, there’s a music and movie system with complimentary headsets, and you get real food with your flight. In every case there was a choice of two dishes (such as pancakes or an omelette for breakfast) and I saw other passengers getting their kosher or vegetarian meal. Pillows and blankets are provided and there is an in-flight magazine in English and Spanish.

On afternoon and evening flights you can get a beer or cocktail gratis, which is always welcome, so you can try Panamanian beer or rum before arrival. (Panamanian rum may just be the world’s best spirits bargain. More on that in another post.)

The flight attendants were friendly, bi-lingual, and attentive on every leg of my trip. They smiled, they communicated, and they seemed to genuinely want their customers to fly with them another time. Again, a refreshing change from the norm these days.

Copa flights go through Panama City, the Hub of the Americas, which is a convenient stop on the way to South America. The airport is getting steadily better all the time, with more food options finally joining the seemingly unending stream of duty-free shops. It’s brighter, cleaner, and more modern than it was last time I visited. There is a Presidents Club lounge there for those who have access.

In theory you can stop off in Panama for free for a few nights on your way to or from somewhere else, but I cannot for the life of me ever get this to work on their online booking site. It always adds $100 – $200 to the flight price no matter what times I pick and what destinations. So you’ll have to call one of their service centers or book with a travel agent to get this done.

Overall, Copa Airlines is a solid, reliable airline that generally offers better service for a better price than its competitors. Often you can find business class tickets for under $2,000 to South America, which is certainly a good value, and a good bit less to Central America. In North America they fly from Toronto and six U.S. gateways, plus three in Mexico. They also operate domestic flights in Colombia and just started flying to Brasilia.

See more and check flight prices at CopaAir.com.

Volaris is one of several Mexican airlines criss-crossing the country and while nobody would call it “luxurious,” it offers a far better experience than you’re going to find on a domestic flight on the U.S. carriers.

Mexico’s airline industry has been turbulent the past few years, with one budget airline going under in 2009, never to recover, then the shocking disappearance of Mexicana last year. Fortunately, the country seems to have now reached a point where its remaining ones are able to survive and expand. More locals are flying and prices are good.

I flew on Volaris recently from Merida to Mexico City’s Toluca airport. Originally I bought a round-trip ticket, but days of flights got canceled later—with no good explanation as to why&mdashand I had to book the return trip on Interjet. (More on that airline later.) Apart from that initial booking snafu though, the process was smooth. The site is in both English and Spanish. Three of us were each able to check one bag for free and the actual check-in process at the airport was quick and friendly, with real people, not machines. They smiled and offered us our choice of seats. In other words, the airline experience we used to experience and expect normally.

The Volaris Flight Experience

On the plane it’s coach seating only, but on nice leather seats on a wide-body jet. The seat pitch was pretty average for economy, but the unique location of the reading material tray at chest level rather than at knee level adds a couple inches. Signs indicated electrical outlets under the seat, but I didn’t have a cord with me to test that.

There’s no in-flight magazine, but attendents hand out headphones to use to watch TV in Spanish. Soon a drink cart came around with a wide variety of non-alcoholic drinks. (It was early in the morning; they may offer beer and cocktails later in the day). My daughter squealed with delight when she saw the snack they were giving us: Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

Service was cheerful and the smiling attendents weren’t too harried. So really there are few signs this is a “budget” airline and a Volaris flight is certainly nicer than a domestic flight on nearly any U.S. airline. There were some advertisements on three overhead luggage panels, but for water from the Coca-Cola company, and we all ended up with a free can of their iced tea before deplaning, so not a bad trade-off. They also had a basket of taffy candy to pick from as we walked off the plane. Nice touch.

Volaris flies to more than 20 cities in Mexico through its hub in Toluca, outside Mexico City. It also flies to multiple locations in the U.S., including San Francisco, L.A., and Chicago. Through those locations you can transfer to partner flights on Southwest. See the current destination map here.