March 29, 2024
Taking Flight: Luciano Macagno

Photo: Jeffrey Salter

Macagno is Delta's point person in Miami as the airline builds a gateway hub to the region.

Rising Executives

Taking Flight: Luciano Macagno

Delta's Luciano Macagno bolsters the airline's South Florida-Latin America moves.

Vickie Chachere | 12/12/2022

LUCIANO MACAGNO
Delta Air Lines, Miami

At least 30 multinational corporations have their Latin America headquarters in South Florida, and as global economists look at the decades to come, Latin America’s relatively young population and entrepreneurial talent make a compelling long-term case for future growth, with Miami the natural entry point to the U.S.

That’s where Luciano Macagno, Delta’s managing director for Latin America, the Caribbean and South Florida, comes in. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently gave final approval to Delta’s joint venture with LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America’s largest air service.

For the past five years, the Argentina native, who brings experience in multinational business to the role, has been Delta’s point person in Miami overseeing the region as the airline makes its move.

“Global business integration is really good for our community,” Macagno says. The partnership will mean increased passenger and cargo routes to Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay and combined services for travelers to 300 destinations. “It shapes our global value proposition,” Macagno says of the partnership.

In 2019, Delta took a 20% stake in Chile-based LATAM in a $1.9-billion deal that was Delta’s largest stake since it merged with Northwest Airlines in 2008. It later reduced its stake to 10% as LATAM restructured during the pandemic.

The trilingual Macagno (he’s fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese) came to Delta from LATAM in 2014, where he took on executive roles in Brazil, Chile and Argentina. His first role at Delta was as a director in Brazil. He also spent a decade working in sales, marketing and strategy for Anheuser-Busch InBev and global food company Danone. Since 2016, he has served on the board of Junior Achievement Americas and was elevated to chair in 2020. JA Americas serves thousands of young people and educators across the region with early business education experiences and curriculum.

For Macagno, Delta’s presence in Miami’s booming tech economy is another opportunity for the airline; it staked out a large presence at eMerge Americas earlier this year, emphasizing its long-term investments in technology, such as rolling out radio-frequency luggage tracking before many competitors and use of biometrics in passenger security. The airline recently announced a $60-million investment in all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi service Joby, a company in a much-eyed sector in Miami’s designs on becoming an East Coast tech hub with the power to grow exponentially if people can get there easier. “Travel enables all of that,” he says. “South Florida is about people from all over the country, all over the world.”

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