is the national flag
Airline of
Panama . ''Copa'' is an
Acronym of ''Compañía Panameña de Aviación'', meaning ''Panamanian Aviation Company'' in
Spanish . It is the leading Panamanian airline, operating services to
North America ,
Central America ,
South America and the
Caribbean . It is headquartered in
Panama City and makes its hub at
Tocumen International Airport .
The airline was established on
21 June 1944 and started operations on
5 May 1947 . It was founded with assistance from
Pan American , which took a 32% stake. It began operations with a small fleet of
Douglas DC-3 /
Douglas C-47 aircraft. The airline saw its first international service in the
1960s , when services were inaugurated to cities in
Jamaica ,
Colombia , and
Costa Rica . It became wholly Panamanian owned in
1972 .
Until the early
1980s , the airline had stiff competition from
Air Panama , until then a better known airline to the international public. Copa heightened the competition by acquiring its first jet, a
Boeing 737-100 , and inaugurating flights to
Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in
San Juan, Puerto Rico , as well as to the
Dominican Republic and
Miami, Florida . The 737 became a staple of the Copa fleet, and until the introduction of the Embraer 190 in 2005, was the only aircraft in its fleet.
Expansion continued during the
1990s , when Copa's 737s began to be sighted at
Ministro Pistarini International Airport in
Buenos Aires, Argentina ,
Benitez International Airport in
Santiago, Chile ,
José Martí International Airport in
Havana, Cuba ,
Jorge Chávez International Airport in
Lima, Peru ,
Benito Juárez International Airport in
Mexico City, Mexico and many other
Latin American airports.
On 19 May 1998,
Continental Airlines acquired a 49% stake in the airline, marking the beginning of a comprehensive marketing and operating alliance. Since then, it has adopted a livery and corporate logo which resemble those of Continental, and participates in Continental's OnePass
Frequent Flyer Program .
In
2000 , Copa inaugurated services to
Los Angeles , Cancun, Mexico and
Orlando , as well as to
São Paulo ,
Brazil . In
2004 it began service to
John F. Kennedy International Airport in
New York City , and announced, in
August of that year, a code-sharing alliance with
Mexico 's
Mexicana De Aviacion .
On
June 1 ,
2005 , Copa announced that it had purchased 90% of the
Colombia n domestic air carrier
AeroRepública , having earlier announced plans to
Codeshare with them. The airline also announced its plans to make
AeroRepública the second largest carrier in Colombia after the nation's flag carrier,
Avianca . It plans to increase domestic destinations, modernize its fleet, and initiate the airline's first international destinations in late 2005. A few days later it was announced among the four future associate member of
Skyteam Alliance , due to join by
2006 .
On December 15, 2005, Copa Holdings, the parent company of Copa Airlines, launched an IPO of 14 million shares in the New York Stock Exchange thus becoming the third Latin American airline to be traded in the NYSE (The other two are LAN Airlines of Chile and the Brazilian carrier GOL).
''See full article:'' .
Copa Airlines announced today it will begin flights to five new destinations in Latin America from its Hub of the Americas in Panama City, Panama starting in July/2006. The new destinations are: Port of Spain, Manaus, Santiago de los Caballeros, Montevideo and San Pedro Sula
The Copa Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of January
2006 ):
In
2004 it placed a purchase order for 12
Embraer 190 aircraft.
