Morocco’s airports handled 18.83 million passengers in the first half of 2026, an 8.83 per cent increase on the same period last year, according to data from the national airports authority ONDA. The growth was driven by international traffic, which rose 8.86 per cent to 16.84 million, while domestic routes carried nearly 2 million, up 8.6 per cent. Casablanca’s Mohammed V airport remained the busiest hub with 5.76 million passengers, closely followed by Marrakech-Menara at 5.64 million. The European market supplied over 14 million travellers, a 9 per cent rise, and South American traffic jumped 34.31 per cent, albeit from a low base, to 53,807. North American and African routes also posted double-digit gains, while Middle and Far Eastern traffic contracted 5.66 per cent to just over 1 million. Air freight rose 12.3 per cent to 57,828 tonnes, and aircraft movements increased 9.65 per cent to 138,353.

Across Latin America, the pattern of air travel growth is uneven. Argentina’s airports recorded a record 24.57 million passengers in the first half, a 1 per cent year-on-year rise, with domestic flights dominating but international traffic growing 8.1 per cent in June. The government’s “open skies” policy has attracted low-cost carriers and new routes, including direct international flights from interior cities, bypassing Buenos Aires. Regional data from ALTA shows Latin American and Caribbean traffic grew 2.7 per cent in May to 38.7 million passengers, led by domestic and intra-regional routes. Brazil and Colombia expanded, while Mexico’s international segment shrank and Argentina’s domestic market contracted 12.1 per cent, pulling the country into its first overall decline of the year. Panama stood out with a 15.7 per cent surge, cementing Tocumen’s role as a connecting hub.

A different reconfiguration is underway in Brazil’s offshore oil logistics. The airport at Maricá, near Rio de Janeiro, transported 69,000 offshore workers in 2024, a 396 per cent increase from 14,000 in 2022, according to a multi-operator monitoring programme. This shift has come partly at the expense of Macaé airport, where passenger numbers fell 19 per cent to 98,000 over the same period. The Farol de São Tomé heliport remains the largest offshore base, moving 380,000 workers in 2024, 90 per cent of them for oil and gas operations. The data, compiled for the first time across ten operators, reveals how logistical networks are adapting to the geography of pre-salt production.

Financial flows from diasporas are also being redirected. India’s central bank has launched a scheme allowing banks to offer up to 7.5 per cent on US dollar deposits from non-resident Indians, absorbing hedging costs to attract foreign currency and bolster reserves. The programme targets the large Indian community in the UAE, where many hold dollar savings. Morocco, meanwhile, is seeking to channel the remittances of its diaspora—which reached over 122 billion dirhams in 2025 and rose a further 11.7 per cent in early 2026—away from real estate and into productive investment. Viewed from Rabat, the challenge is to convert a steady flow of funds into durable economic participation, a concern echoed in other remittance-dependent economies.

Full-year traffic figures for Morocco and Latin America, due early next year, will test whether the first-half momentum is sustained. In Brazil, the next phase of the offshore monitoring programme aims to identify the factors driving shifts in worker transport routes. For India, the success of the foreign currency deposit scheme will be measured by reserve accumulation and the rupee’s stability in coming quarters.