Air Panama appears to feel that COPA poses a considerable threat to their monopoly of the David to Panama route and they should be.   The pricing of that flight has been too high and even with oil falling below $50 a barrel, we still pay and fuel charge on that route as well.  Copa will offer a savings especially if you look at flights from the US that connect in Tocumen and arrive in David.

Air Panama has publicly questioned if Copa Airlines (CM, Panamá City Tocumen Int’l) should be allowed to compete with it on the biggest domestic market in Panama between Panamá City and David starting January 15. Air Panama currently operates from Albrook Airport to David up to four times daily with a mix of Fokker 100s and Fokker 50s. Copa plans to operate two daily EMB-190 services from its Panamá City Tocumen Int’l hub, its first domestic services in the country.

Air Panama executive president Eduardo Stagg has told local paper La Prensa that the regional carrier does not believe its much larger competitor complies with a national law requiring at least 60% of the shares in an airline to be owned by Panamanian nationals to be allowed to operate domestically.

Copa disagrees and says that it complies with all national laws and is allowed to operate the service. More than half of Panamanian local traffic is on the route to David, Air Panama’s most important in its network.