Reuters Staff reports on this update.

Emirates has revived prospects of non-stop flights to Panama, the airline said on Wednesday, encouraged by development potential in Latin America.

The Middle East airline shelved plans for flights to Panama City from its Dubai hub in early 2016 after it was unable to secure enough code-share agreements to make the route feasible.

“We are still looking at Panama. We had some conversations recently with a delegation from Panama,” Emirates Chief Commercial Officer Thierry Antinori told reporters in Dubai.

Emirates had trumpeted the 8,590-mile (13,824km) route as the world’s longest, taking 17 hours and 35 minutes westbound.

Code-shares with Panama’s Copa Airlines were to connect Emirates passengers to cities across Central America, the Caribbean and the northern part of South America.

Emirates has shown growing interest in Latin America and Antinori said the airline sees a lot of development in the region.