is the national
Flag Carrier Airline of
Panama , based in
Panama City ,
Panama . Its main base of operations is
Tocumen International Airport , from where it operates approximately 116 daily scheduled flights to 40 destinations in 21 countries in
North America ,
Central America ,
South America and
The Caribbean .
1
The airline was established as ''Compañia Panameña de Aviacion'' (hence the
Acronym COPA) on
June 21 1944 and started operations on
August 15 1947 . It was founded by a group of prominent Panamanian investors with assistance from
Pan American , which took a 32% stake. It began operations with domestic flights operated by a small fleet of
Douglas DC-3 and
Douglas C-47 aircraft. The airline started its first international flights in the 1960s when services were inaugurated to cities in
Jamaica ,
Colombia , and
Costa Rica . It became wholly Panamanian owned in 1971. in a jetway at Tocumen International Airport, Panama City, Panama.]]
Until the early 1980s, the airline had significant competition from
Air Panama , until then, a better known airline to the international public. In order to compete with Air Panama, Copa discontinued its domestic flights in 1979 and acquired its first jet, a
Boeing 737-100 . It also inaugurated flights to
San Juan, Puerto Rico , as well as to the
Dominican Republic and
Miami, Florida . Thus, the Boeing 737 became the only aircraft in its fleet until the introduction of the
Embraer 190 in 2005.
Expansion continued during the 1990s, when service was started to
Buenos Aires ,
Argentina ,
Santiago, Chile ,
Havana, Cuba ,
Lima, Peru ,
Mexico City, Mexico and many other important
Latin America n cities.
In 1998,
Continental Airlines acquired a 49% stake in the airline, marking the beginning of a comprehensive marketing and operating alliance. On
19 May 1999 Continental increased its stake to 51%. Since then, it has adopted a livery and a
Corporate Logo which are similar to those of Continental in order to represent their alliance, and participates in the OnePass
Frequent Flyer Program . However, in connection with the initial public offering in December 2005, Continental reduced its investment from 49% to approximately 27.3% and through a follow-on offering in 2006, Continental further reduced its investment to approximately 10.0%.
In 2000, Copa Airlines inaugurated services to
Los Angeles ,
Cancún, 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 . It also announced in August of that year a code-sharing alliance with
Mexico 's
Mexicana De Aviacion , which lasted until 2007.
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. It plans to increase domestic destinations, modernize its fleet, and initiate the airline's first international destinations. A few days later, Copa Airlines was announced among the four future associate members of
Skyteam Alliance , due to join by September 2007
La Prensa (In Spanish) .
On
December 15 ,
2005 ,
Copa Holdings, S.A. , the
Parent Company of Copa Airlines, launched an IPO of 14 million shares in the
New York Stock Exchange thus becoming the fourth Latin American airline to be traded in the exchange, the other three being
LAN Airlines of Chile and
Brazil ian carriers
GOL and
TAM Linhas Aéreas .
In 2006 Copa Airlines announced and began service to six new destinations:
In addition, Copa Airlines also received 6
Embraer 190 and 2
Boeing 737 in 2006 and was chosen again as the by
Skytrax .
- November 2002: Best Regionalization in Latin America Award, PODER Magazine, Booz, Allen & Hamilton and Egon Zehnder International . 2
- December 2002: "Tourism without Borders" Award, Federation of Tourism Chambers of Central America.
- April 2003: "Developing Airline of the Year” Award, AirFinance Journal.
- April 2004: "Best Airline" in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean Award, based on the annual World Airline Survey conducted by Skytrax , a British market-survey company.
- June 2004: Among the 25 Best Employers In Latin America , América Economía magazine.
- June 2005: "Best Airline" and "Best On-board Service" in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean Awards, Skytrax . 3
- June 2006: "Best Airline" and "Best Cabin Staff" in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean Awards, Skytrax .4
- October 2006: One of the 10 Best Employers in Latin America, América Economía magazine. 5
See Also: Copa Airlines destinations
Copa Airlines currently flies to 40 destinations in 21 countries in
North America ,
Central America ,
South America and
The Caribbean .
The Copa Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft as of March 2007:
- The average age of Copa’s aircraft is approximately 3.9 years as of May 31 , 2007 .
- In October 2004, Copa announced an order to purchase ten new Embraer 190 aircraft with options for a further 20 new aircraft. Later the firm orders were increased by exercising five of the options. Six aircraft were delivered in the first quarter of 2007.6 In June 2007 the airline took delivery of its seventh Embraer 190 aircraft and is due to receive four more during 2007. The aircraft are configured with 10 seats in Clase Ejecutiva (Business Class) and 84 seats in economy.7
- As of May 31 , 2007 , the airline has firm commitments to purchase ten Boeing 737 -Next Generation and ten Embraer 190s, with a list price of approximately $1.1 billion.
OnePass is Copa Airlines frequent flyer program through partnership with Continental Airlines, offering regular travelers the ability to obtain free tickets, First Class upgrades on flights, discounted membership for its
Airport Lounge (
President's Club ), or other types of rewards. Customers accumulate miles from flight segments they fly through Copa Airlines, Continental Airlines or other partners. OnePass elite tiers are Silver, Gold, and Platinum Elite which have benefits such as complimentary upgrades, mileage bonus, priority check-in and priority boarding.
In addition to its
Continental Airlines ,
Continental Express ,
Continental Connection , and
SkyTeam Alliance partnerships, Copa Airlines has frequent flyer partnerships with the following airlines:
Copa Airlines also offers frequent flyer partnerships with the following car rental companies:
The Presidents Club is the membership airport lounge program jointly operated with Continental Airlines. Copa Airlines lounge is located in its hub at Tocumen International Airport, Panama City, Panama. Presidents Club lounges offer amenities for travelers and members also have access to affiliated lounges around the world.
The Presidents Club locations are listed below:
Copa Airlines President Club members are allowed to use partner clubs, which offer more clubs in more locations. For partner club information see
club location information at continental.com
Copa Airlines has
Codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
See Also: Copa Airlines Flight 201
On
June 6 ,
1992 . A
Boeing 737-200 , marked as Copa Airlines Flight 201 departed from
Panama City to
Cali, Colombia and crashed in the
Darien Gap after an instrument failure, killing 47 passengers onboard.
