Copa Airlines is the State carrier in Panama and one of the most successful companies across Latin America. This airline has created the Hub of the Americas; it connects with every country in the Americas through Tocumen International Airport.
The airline started operations in 1947 as the National Airline of Panama. It began operations with flights to three cities in Panama, using Douglas DC-3/C47 planes. Nowadays, Copa Airlines has a fleet of only Boeing 737 aircraft and believes it will come out strengthened from the COVID-19 pandemic; 2022 will be a consolidation year, Copa CEO Pedro Heilbron recently stated.
Get your boarding pass to the flight of the year. The Future Flying Forum is taking off soon!
Copa Airlines’ history
The Panamanian carrier started operations on August 15, 1947. Pan American World Airways took a 32% stake, along with a group of Panamanian investors. Copa Airlines began operations with flights to three cities in Panama. It had a fleet of Douglas DC-3/C47 planes.
It took nearly 20 years before Copa Airlines went international. As time went by, Copa became an almost international carrier. It only has one domestic route currently, between Tocumen and David.
In 1966, Copa Airlines launched three weekly flights to San Jose, Costa Rica, its first international destination.
Three years later, Copa Airlines introduced its connectivity to Kingston, Jamaica, Managua, Nicaragua, and Barranquilla, Colombia using its AVRO 748 fleet. In the seventies, the airline added Medellin, Cartagena, San Salvador, and Guatemala as destinations.