The airline Air Panama expects to resume flights between the city of David in Chiriquí to San José, Costa Rica, in the first quarter of 2025, revealed Eduardo Stagg, commercial manager, pointing out that they have an expansion plan, consolidated in the acquisition of new aircraft.

“For next year, two new planes will be incorporated into operations and we have plans to open a new route between San José, Costa Rica and David, and with a connection to Panama City and we believe that this will benefit the increase in tourism to Panama,” Stagg told La Prensa.

The new aircraft are two Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 with capacity for 76 passengers that were operated by an Alaska Air subsidiary, Horizon Air.

These aircraft now in the hands of Air Panama arrived in the country in September of this year 2024 and are being painted and conditioned. In addition, they must process the certificates and documents so that they can be operational in the country by the airline based at Marcos A Airport. Gelabert de Albrook.

Stagg said that for now they do not plan flights to Colombia, however they are open to operating charter flights to several destinations.

He said that in 2024 they recorded an increase in the occupancy of flights on the routes that operate to Chitré, Bocas del Toro, Changuinola and David, in addition to some charter flights.

They currently operate three Fokker aircraft, each with an totally capacity that reaches 150 seats. With the arrival of the two Dash 8 aircraft, 152 additional seats will be added that can be offered as a trip, in addition to the service with a Cessna Grand Caravan of between 7 and 9 passengers.