Poll: Medium widebodies to drive Latin American freighter growth over next 5 years

Medium-widebody freighters will be the key driver of freighter growth in Latin America for the rest of the decade, according to a poll taken at Cargo Facts LATAM 2026 in Mexico City last week. Although most freighters in the region are narrowbodies, medium widebodies have the highest growth potential, about 71% of poll respondents said. The poll was taken during a panel discussion on Latin America’s evolving leasing and investment market. [caption id="attachment_57295508" align="aligncenter" width="461"] Poll results displayed just after the survey was completed at Cargo Facts LATAM 2026. (Cargo Facts)[/caption] “I would have thought it’s more on the narrowbody side,” Joerg Andriof, chief investment officer at Aircraft Finance Germany and guest moderator of the panel, said in response to the poll results. The results likely reflect operators adapting to supply constraints and current economics and possibly open the door for carriers to transition from a narrowbody freighter to a medium-widebody type as their fleet strategy grows and revenue increases, Titan Aviation Leasing Chief Financial Officer Vamshi Rokkam said. Medium-widebody freighters can provide flexibility at a manageable ownership cost, he said. “It’s a sweet spot,” Rokkam said. “It can scale up and scale down, enabling operators to tap into exports, because Latin America is getting increasingly connected to China.” Through its Titan Aircraft Investments II subsidiary, Titan acquired from Airbus a pair of A330-300P2Fs on lease to Mexico-based Mas in 2025, marking the first Airbus freighters to join its portfolio. [caption id="attachment_57295512" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Joerg Andriof of Aircraft Finance Germany, far left, moderates a panel with, from left, Dora Alexander of Hamden Aviation; Todd France of ATSG; David Manoogian of Flight Lease; Vamshi Rokkam of Titan Aviation Leasing; and Steve Williamson of Crestone Air Partners at Cargo Facts LATAM 2026. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] Growth potential Medium-widebody freighters may offer growth potential in Latin America, but challenges remain in deploying them across the region. The smaller widebody freighter variants are trunk-lane aircraft that can support longer routes between Latin America and Miami (MIA) and other markets, but keeping them full with payloads that generate sufficiently high yields remains the challenge, Todd France, chief commercial officer at ATSG, said during the panel discussion. The growing number of medium-widebody freighters in the region suggests that carriers are finding markets with adequate payloads and yields to operate the type. Apart from Chile-based LATAM Cargo, which operates the nineteen 767-300 freighters in the region, Mexico-based Awesome Cargo and Colombia-based Avianca Cargo expanded their freighter fleets with A330-200P2Fs last year. Avianca also assigned two A330-300P2Fs to Mexico-based AeroUnion, now rebranded as Avianca Cargo Mexico . Meanwhile, Mas has five A330P2Fs and is looking for more . The limited payload capacity of large widebody freighters at airports across Latin America, including Quito, Ecuador (UIO), and Bogota, Colombia (BOG), could also boost demand for medium-widebody freighters. During the discussion, Crestone Air Partners Chief Commercial Officer Steve Williamson highlighted that airports nestled in the region's elevated terrain still constrain large widebody deployment, reinforcing the role of narrowbodies and smaller widebodies. “There are high altitude airports here that require very strong performance, and definitely don’t lend themselves to the large-widebody space,” he said. See Cargo Facts’ coverage of Cargo Facts LATAM 2026 . Cargo Facts will present four invaluable events for airfreight professionals in 2026, the next of which is <a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://cargofactsevents.com/asia/?utm_campaign=22235567-CF%20Asia%202026&utm_source=Editorial&utm_medium=article%20event%20footer&utm_term=CF%20website&utm_content=Learn%20More&utm_source=Weekly+Update+-+Cargo+Facts&utm_campaign=fbe548904b-CF+Update_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_621baa6827-fbe548904b-40083601&mc_cid=fbe548904b&mc_eid=adbe8bb0b4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cargo Facts Asia on March 23-25. To see the agendas and register for the events, visit CargoFactsEvents.com .

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