Peru’s Liberal Air Service Pacts with Spain, Australia, Chile and Panama Are Being Framed as Key Drivers of Global Tourism Growth and Connectivity

Peru is being placed at the centre of a new wave of aviation liberalisation as it joins a small group of countries adopting highly open air service frameworks. A series of fully liberal and partially liberalised agreements is being concluded, in which traditional capacity and frequency limits are being removed or significantly relaxed, especially on long‑haul and regional routes. These agreements are being presented as catalysts for tourism growth, enhanced international connectivity and improved benefits for passengers and the wider travel and tourism industry.

While many countries continue to operate under tightly controlled bilateral air services regimes, Peru and Spain have now moved to a model in which designated airlines are allowed to respond directly to market demand. In parallel, a comprehensive open skies agreement with Australia and targeted expansions with Chile and Panama are being advanced. These steps are being aligned with broader global trends, such as open skies arrangements involving the United States, the internal single aviation market within the European Union, India’s reciprocal open sky provisions and Argentina’s recent liberalisation drive. Against this backdrop, Peru’s approach is being highlighted as a concrete example of how regulatory changes can be used to unlock tourism potential and strengthen aviation hubs.

Peru – Spain: a fully liberalised corridor across the Atlantic

The agreement between Peru and Spain is being viewed as a cornerstone of this new liberalisation phase. A modern bilateral air services agreement has been signed and ratified, replacing a framework that had been in place since 1954. Under the new accord, capacity and frequency restrictions for passenger and cargo services under third and fourth freedom rights are being fully eliminated. Airlines designated by both countries are being allowed to determine seat supply, weekly frequencies and aircraft types entirely on the basis of market demand, with full fleet flexibility under a fully liberalised regime.

As a direct manifestation of this new framework, a nonstop Barcelona–Lima service is being linked to the agreement. The route is planned to commence in June 2026 and is scheduled to operate three times weekly, subject to government approvals. This nonstop connection is being framed as an immediate outcome of the liberalised regime and is expected to support a fresh wave of cultural and tourism exchanges between Spain and Peru. By enabling carriers to scale operations without numerical caps, the agreement is being positioned to encourage further route launches and frequency increases in future seasons.

According to Peru’s Transport and Communications Ministry, this bilateral arrangement has been designed in response to sustained traffic growth and rising demand between Peru and Europe. Tourism flows are expected to increase substantially in both directions. Spain is being identified as one of Peru’s most important tourism source markets in Europe, and the removal of flight restrictions is expected to attract more Spanish visitors to iconic destinations such as Machu Picchu, the Amazon rainforest and the Nazca Lines. Hotels, tour operators, guides and local service providers are being expected to benefit from higher volumes of inbound travellers.

From the passenger perspective, the end of fixed weekly caps on flights is being expected to translate into more flexible schedules and greater availability of seats. Airlines are being enabled to add extra frequencies during peak travel seasons, adjust capacity during shoulder periods and deploy a mix of aircraft types and cabin products tailored to different traveller segments. This flexibility is expected to provide more options on fare levels, comfort standards and travel timings. At the same time, Peruvian travellers are being given easier access to Spanish and wider European destinations, improving opportunities for leisure, study, business and family visits.

Peru – Australia: open skies and hub ambitions for Lima

Alongside the Spain agreement, an open skies accord has been concluded between Peru and Australia. Under this arrangement, restrictions on routes, capacity, frequencies and aircraft types between the two countries are being removed. Airlines from Peru and Australia are being allowed to operate from any point in Peru to any destination in Australia, with broad traffic rights and extensive possibilities for codeshare cooperation. Market‑driven expansion is being enabled without predefined numerical caps, allowing carriers to react to emerging demand rather than to fixed regulatory quotas.

Peru’s Transport Ministry is explicitly linking this open skies agreement to a wider strategy aimed at strengthening Lima’s role as a regional aviation hub and boosting tourism and foreign trade. The agreement is being introduced at a time when Jorge Chávez International Airport is undergoing major infrastructure expansion, including a new terminal and a second runway. These investments are being projected to lift the airport’s initial capacity to about 30 million passengers annually, with a planned rise to 40 million by the end of the decade, thereby providing the physical foundation for the increased traffic that liberalised agreements are expected to generate.

For travellers, the Peru–Australia open skies regime is being expected to support future nonstop services and optimised one‑stop itineraries that shorten total journey times and expand routing options. Passengers who currently rely on connections via third countries, such as Chile, are likely to gain alternative routings through a more direct Peru–Australia network. With minimal restrictions on routes and frequencies, airlines are being expected to design schedules around demand peaks, tourism seasons and connecting bank structures, which can improve connectivity for both leisure and business markets. Over time, increased competition and capacity are anticipated to contribute to more competitive fares and better service offerings.

Peru – Chile and Peru – Panama: staged, targeted liberalisation

Peru’s liberalisation strategy is not limited to fully open regimes; it also includes carefully targeted expansions of traffic rights. With Chile and Panama, new memoranda of understanding are being deployed to broaden connectivity while recognising the importance of managing demand on key trunk routes. In the Peru–Chile case, third‑ and fourth‑freedom frequencies on the core Lima–Santiago route are being doubled, from 84 to 168 per week. This change significantly raises the ceiling for traffic on one of South America’s most heavily used city pairs, responding to strong demand from both business and leisure travellers.

At the same time, a more radical liberalisation is being implemented for routes between Chile and Peruvian regional cities. All frequency limits on services connecting Chile with destinations outside Lima are being removed, allowing unrestricted operations on those non‑Lima routes. This approach creates clear incentives for airlines to open new city pairs and expand secondary markets, such as direct links between Chilean cities and Peruvian coastal, Andean or Amazonian destinations. Although the Lima–Santiago route remains numerically capped, the higher ceiling and the full liberalisation of regional sectors together are being used to encourage broader network development.

The Peru–Panama arrangements follow a similar logic of expansion, aimed at enhancing access to a major regional hub while gradually loosening constraints on capacity. This incremental strategy reflects how air services liberalisation is often implemented globally: frequencies may first be doubled or substantially increased on primary routes, and later, as market confidence grows, restrictions may be fully lifted on selected sectors. Such staged liberalisation enables the market to adjust while still providing a clear path toward more open skies.

Global context: open skies examples beyond Peru

Peru’s actions are being undertaken against a backdrop of broader international experience with open skies and liberal air services regimes. The United States has developed one of the most extensive networks of open skies agreements in the world, encompassing partners such as the European Union and a range of individual states. These agreements typically remove limits on routes, capacity and pricing for designated airlines, subject to safety, security and competition safeguards. In the transatlantic market, the EU–US open skies framework has effectively eliminated capacity constraints on routes between EU member states and the United States, allowing airlines to enter and exit markets and adjust frequencies according to demand.

Within Europe, the internal single aviation market has fully liberalised capacity among member states. Carriers are permitted to operate freely within the bloc, including on purely domestic routes in other member countries, under a unified regulatory regime. This model demonstrates how a high level of liberalisation can stimulate competition, reduce fares and expand route networks.

India provides another example of selective liberalisation. Under India’s National Civil Aviation Policy 2016, the government may enter into open sky agreements on a reciprocal basis with countries located beyond a 5,000‑kilometre radius from New Delhi. Open sky arrangements have been reported with partners such as the United States, Japan, Finland, Greece, Jamaica and Guyana. These agreements generally permit unlimited flights above baseline bilateral entitlements between specified points, although details such as whether all capacity caps are removed or significantly enhanced can vary by agreement.

Argentina has also moved in this direction by adopting an open skies policy in 2024 and concluding more than 14 new or revised international air service agreements. These are aimed at opening Argentine airspace to increased competition and connectivity. While the degree of liberalisation differs across partners, the overall trend is toward fewer restrictions on routes and capacity, with higher ceilings or complete removal of capacity limits on selected corridors.

Why a complete global list is not available

Despite clear liberalisation trends, a fully comprehensive and current catalogue of all bilateral air service agreements that remove capacity limits does not exist. Many agreements and memoranda of understanding are not publicly available in complete form and are held in government archives or diplomatic channels. Only partial summaries or selected legal provisions are often released, and these may be scattered across government websites, official gazettes and international aviation documents.

Furthermore, liberalisation rarely occurs as a single, uniform step. Capacity and frequency may be increased in stages, and different freedoms of the air may be granted gradually. Some agreements are therefore substantially more liberal than their predecessors without being completely unrestricted across every route or traffic right. This complexity means that while Peru–Spain and Peru–Australia can be clearly identified as recent examples of very liberal or fully open regimes, and the regional sectors of Peru–Chile can be noted as having entered a no‑restriction phase, no simple global inventory can be produced that captures every similar arrangement.

Tourism, economic and passenger benefits: evidence and projections

The expected impact of these liberal agreements on Peru’s travel and tourism sector is being underpinned by both policy intent and economic analysis. Peru’s authorities emphasise that removing operational barriers with Spain and Australia is intended to support tourism growth, foreign trade and national competitiveness. Additional flights and expanded route networks are being expected to create new economic opportunities for hotels, transport providers, tour operators, cultural attractions and a broad spectrum of service industries.

An IATA‑commissioned study focusing on Peru’s international air service liberalisation estimates that full liberalisation of market access could increase international traffic by about 2.2 million passengers, a rise of roughly 56 percent compared with 2007. The same analysis suggests that such liberalisation could generate between 47,200 and 77,600 full‑time equivalent jobs and contribute between PEN 1.3 billion and PEN 3.3 billion to Peru’s GDP. A large portion of these jobs is projected to arise in tourism and tourism‑related activities, highlighting the strong linkage between air connectivity and visitor‑driven employment.

The study further finds that liberalisation tends to raise the level of air services and reduce average fares. As more airlines enter markets and existing carriers expand capacity, competition intensifies, leading to lower prices and a greater variety of products. This, in turn, stimulates additional tourist arrivals and supports the development of businesses ranging from accommodation and food services to entertainment, retail and local transport. Complementary analysis in IATA’s report on the value of air transport to Peru notes that aviation‑enabled tourism already contributes around USD 2.7 billion to national GDP and provides employment for approximately 155,400 people. Additional connectivity under liberal regimes is therefore expected to amplify an already significant economic contribution.

Enhanced experience and options for passengers

For passengers, the advantages of Peru’s new agreements are being felt mainly through improvements in choice, convenience and value. The removal of fixed weekly caps under the Peru–Spain agreement allows airlines to offer more frequent services and adjust capacity realistically to seasonal patterns. Travellers are being presented with a broader spread of departure and arrival times, which improves the likelihood of finding flights that match holiday plans, business meetings or connecting itineraries.

Full fleet flexibility under the liberal regime also allows airlines to operate a range of aircraft types, from narrowbodies configured for shorter routes to widebodies with premium cabins for long‑haul journeys. This flexibility gives passengers access to different fare levels and service standards, from budget options to higher‑comfort products. In the Peru–Australia context, the open skies framework is expected to enable more tailored route planning, including potential nonstop links or improved one‑stop options that reduce total journey times and complexity for travellers currently reliant on multiple connections.

As market entry barriers are reduced, new airlines may enter the Peru–Europe and Peru–Oceania markets, or existing carriers may extend their networks. This competition is being expected to place downward pressure on fares and to encourage innovations in service, loyalty programmes and ancillary products. Overall, passengers are anticipated to gain a higher consumer surplus, meaning they receive greater value from their travel experiences, whether through lower prices, better schedules or enhanced onboard and ground services.

Lima’s hub strategy and long‑term outlook

Peru’s government is framing these liberal agreements as part of a deliberate plan to transform Lima into a stronger regional aviation hub connecting South America with Europe, Oceania and beyond. The expansion of Jorge Chávez International Airport, with its new terminal and second runway, provides the infrastructure foundation for this strategy. Initial capacity is being increased to about 30 million passengers annually, with further expansion to around 40 million expected later in the decade. As more long‑haul flights from Europe and Oceania become feasible without numerical restrictions, Lima is being positioned to attract additional airlines and routes.

This enhanced hub role is expected to improve onward connectivity to other South American destinations. More one‑stop itineraries via Lima will be possible for travellers originating in Europe or Australia who wish to visit multiple countries in the region. Conversely, South American travellers will gain additional options for reaching international destinations. Articles and statements on the Peru–Spain agreement suggest that unlimited frequencies and expanded rights will help both countries capture a larger share of each other’s growing tourism markets, with Lima and Madrid highlighted as cities likely to experience increased visitor numbers as the liberal regime is fully utilised.

In aggregate, official communications from Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communications describe the Peru–Spain and Peru–Australia agreements as historic milestones intended to deepen global connectivity, attract more international tourists and integrate Peru more firmly into the global tourism economy. Findings from IATA’s economic studies support the conclusion that such liberalisation measures are generally associated with substantial increases in passenger volumes, tourism‑related employment and GDP. Consequently, these new air services agreements are being expected to exert a positive and measurable influence on Peru’s travel and tourism industry over the coming years, while also providing tangible benefits for passengers and partner countries.

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