KLM has announced plans to launch flights from Amsterdam to Panama next summer, providing the only direct link to Central America’s fastest growing economy from northern Europe.
The Dutch national airline will fly non-stop to Panama City Tocumen airport from its Amsterdam Schiphol base three times a week from March 30.
A total of 294 seats - 24 in world business class and 270 in economy - will be available on KLM’s services to the Panama.
The new route will offer numerous connections from Panama City thanks to KLM’s close ties with Panamanian carrier Copa Airlines, a fellow member of the SkyTeam airline alliance. Copa offer flights from Panama to an extensive range of Latin American destinations that currently have no direct links to Europe, including Cartagena in Colombia and the Nicaraguan capital Managua.

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SAO PAULO, Brazil, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (NYSE: GOL - News; Bovespa: GOLL4), Brazil’s low-cost, low-fare airline, announces that it will start operating daily flights between Brazil and Panama, made possible through the Company’s code-share agreement with Copa Airlines. Through the previous agreement the two companies operated only four flights per week. The agreement, signed in August 2005, aims to offer more flights and connection options between Brazil and Panama, including several points across the Americas, through the Hub de las Americas — a direct flight distribution center located at Tocumen International Airport, in Panama City, which serves 30 destinations in 20 countries.

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Panamanian Copa Airlines has announced that it will begin direct flights to Maracaibo (Venezuela) with six flights a week, starting July 24, 2006. Maracaibo is Venezuela’s second largest city and the capital of the state of Zulia, the most important oil-producing state. This year, the company will also be initiating flight service to Manaus, Brazil, and Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic on July 15; to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on July 24; to Montevideo, Uruguay, on August 15; and in the last quarter of the year, to Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. “We are pleased to offer our passengers six new destinations and are moving forward with our plans for the airline’s growth in the region,” said Jorge Garcia, Commercial vice president of Copa Airlines. “Passengers will be able to continue making their connections quickly and efficiently to numerous destinations serviced by Copa in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean through our Hub of the Americas in Panama,” he added. “This flight will depart from Panama every day except Friday at 7:58 p.m., arriving in Maracaibo at 10:30 p.m. The return flight will depart Maracaibo every day except Saturday at 8:35 a.m., and will arrive in Panama at 9:15 a.m.”

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