Brian Homewood RIO DE JANEIRO
Copa Airlines of Panama has unveiled a new company image, the result of an alliance with Continental Airlines. The new look is shown on a Boeing 737-700, one of 12 scheduled for delivery over the next few years to replace existing aircraft. Copa Airlines has also added features to its service, including its Clase Ejecutiva – a business class cabin – and full participation in Continental’s OnePass frequent flier programme.
“We have designed our new image to build recognition of our brand among our customers everywhere we fly in the Americas. The new image truly captures who Copa Airlines is today and expresses the company’s attitude and its commitment to its customers,” says Pedro Heilbron, executive president of Copa Airlines.
Copa and Continental have rescheduled their international flights so they align and they intend to implement codesharing on international flights to the USA, the Caribbean, and Central and South America destinations, once government approval has been received.
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Panama’s civil aviation authorities on Tuesday denied reports of an alleged attempt to hijack a Panamanian plane coming into the country from Havana.
Civil Aviation spokesman Victor De La Hoz told Panamanian television that the authorities “deny any attempt or report of a hijacking” on board Copa Airlines flight 231.
De la Hoz said the misunderstanding started when flight attendants served breakfast on board and noticed that one knife was missing in the first-class section of the plane. The subsequent search showed that one of the passengers had grabbed the knife as a “souvenir.”
Airport security officials arrested the man pending further investigation after the plane landed safely.
De La Hoz stressed that Panamanian authorities did not want to cause unnecessary alarm that might affect tourism.
A group of young Israelis caused a similar incident in Panama several years ago, when they took out toy water guns on board a flight.
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BRENDAN SOBIE / SINGAPORE
Alliance airlines in talks with Panama carrier while rival group looks to replace Mexicana
SkyTeam is poised to further cement its dominance in Mexico and Central America with the expected addition of Panama’s Copa Airlines.
Copa, which has been aligned with Continental Airlines since 1998, is in talks to add alliances next year with Continental partners Alitalia, Delta Air Lines, KLM and Northwest Airlines.
“We will probably do something first with Alitalia and later in the year with Delta and KLM,” says Copa chief executive Pedro Heilbron. “Although it is still not clear on the exact role for Copa Airlines in SkyTeam or the timing to join, we do expect to participate in it. Our centrally located hub in the Americas in Panama and network of intra-Latin American routes will be a valuable addition to the group.”
Continental and Northwest also plan to join SkyTeam next year on the heels of their new triple alliance with SkyTeam co-founder Delta. SkyTeam already includes Aeromexico, but Copa has a codeshare with outgoing Star Alliance member Mexicana. Aeromexico and Mexicana parent Cintra plan a restructuring that could include more co-operation between the two Mexican carriers and potentially lead to both participating in SkyTeam.
With Mexicana due to leave the alliance on 31 March, Star is searching for a new partner in Mexico or Central America. But with Mexico’s two main carriers and Copa not interested, Star is banking on Grupo TACA joining.
TACA, flag carrier for all Central American countries except Panama, is now affiliated with Oneworld member American Airlines. But Star is hoping to gain TACA as a member because rival LanChile is already part of Oneworld. TACA and LanChile have started to cross paths in recent years as they both have been trying to expand by establishing new affiliates in Latin American countries that have weak or no flag carriers, such as Ecuador and Peru.
Continental will also extend SkyTeam’s domination in Mexico and Central America because its Houston hub has connections to over 30 cities in the region.
Copa serves 30 destinations in the Americas from its Panama City hub with a fleet of 16 Boeing 737-700/800s and six 737-200s that are to be replaced with new 737-700s/800s over the next two years.
Star Alliance is to establish a joint fuel procurement firm next year to purchase jet fuel more cheaply for its member airlines. FuelCo will be based in the USAand will manage fuel procurement at selected airports worldwide. Star chief executive Jaan Albrecht says FuelCo will complete large purchases to “bring the unit cost and complexity down”. Star is also working on a joint customer reservation system.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2003/12/16/175247/skyteam-moves-to-add-copa-as-star-woos-taca.html
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PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
Airline will expand services to the USA, and hopes to benefit from Continental link
Copa Airlines may seek to accelerate delivery of up to 12 additional Boeing 737-700/800s if, as the carrier expects, Panama is reinstated as a Category 1 country under the US Federal Aviation Administration’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme. Category 1 status would allow Copa to expand services to the USA.
The airline recently confirmed a follow-on order for four more 737-700s and the carrier’s first 155-seat stretch -800s, with deliveries starting in October next year at the rate of two aircraft a year. Copa has also taken options on six more aircraft for delivery in 2006, but has the flexibility to advance these.
“These options are exercisable 18 months before delivery and we could definitely accelerate this, not just with Category 1 but with market growth. Nothing has happened yet officially but Panama keeps working towards Category 1 and hopefully way before the first new aircraft arrive we’ll be Category 1,” says Pedro Heilbron, Copa president.
Panama was downgraded to Category 2 in May last year after an IASA audit found shortcomings in the country’s regulatory aviation oversight, forcing Copa to suspend its codeshare with Continental Airlines and freeze services to the USA. As a result new 737-700s or larger -800s cannot be added or substituted for those on the original operational specification.
Heilbron adds: “Expanding to the US market is a small part of our plans. We are looking at rights and route opportunities throughout Latin America.” The airline is planning for a 10-12% growth in capacity, maintaining current load factors around 65% and in, particular, hopes to increase frequencies to Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.
The new aircraft will supplement 12 737-700s ordered in 1999, 10 of which are now in service, and replace Copa’s final eight -200s. All of the new 737-700/800s, along with the last four aircraft from the previous order, are being delivered equipped with blended winglets from Aviation Partners Boeing.
The airline plans to retrofit the winglets to four of its existing aircraft by next year, delivering a better than expected 4% improvement in specific fuel consumption.
In the long term, Copa expects to benefit from the tie-up between Continental, which owns 49% of the Panamanian carrier, and Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines and their respective SkyTeam and Wings alliances. “We see this as a great opportunity for us expanding ties with other airlines, especially Air France, Delta, KLM and Northwest,” says Heilbron.
http://www.flightglobal.com/Search/ZibbSearch.aspx?o=20&sKeywords=panama&content=site&cat=&searchType=site&sortBy=Relevance&filter=0
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Posted by Mike | Under Airline News
Brazil’s low-cost carrier GOL is expanding its international presence by codesharing with Panama’s COPA Airlines. In the first phase, COPA is carrying GOL’s code on COPA flights between Panama and Brazil, and GOL carries COPA’s code on all its flights within Brazil from the gateways of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2005/09/26/201854/gol-shares-codes-with-copa.html
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Posted by Mike | Under Airline News
Copa Airlines have announced the beginning of direct flights to the city of Rio de Janeiro, starting November 15. “With the addition of flights to the city of Rio de Janeiro, Copa Airlines continues to strengthen its position in the region and the success of our Hub of the Americas, the main hub in Latin America for both business and leisure travelers,” said Jorge Garcia Icaza, Commercial Vice President of Copa Airlines. “This new flight provides more direct connections between this major Brazilian city and North America, Central America and the Caribbean,” he added. Copa will operate Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft on the new route. The flight, to be operated five times a week, will depart from Panama City at 19:11 and arrive in Rio de Janeiro at 04:02 the following morning. Copa Airlines offers services to other destinations in Brazil, including a twice-daily service to Sao Paulo and since July 2006, a daily direct flight to Manaus. In addition to the new Brazilian destinations of Manaus and Rio, Copa began flights to four other cities in Latin America between July and August of this year: Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic; Maracaibo, Venezuela; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and Montevideo, Uruguay.
SOURCE: Don Winner @ Panama-guide.com
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Source: VIP Panama
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Posted by Mike | Under Panama Flights
Panama, May 10 (Prensa Latina) Panama´s Copa Airlines will make seven more direct flights to Cuba, Cuban Civil Aeronautics Authority (AAP) announced Wednesday. In its release, the AAP said the initiative emerged during the recent bilateral talks in Havana, and will be implemented as soon as possible. The source noted Cuba has agreed to increase weekly Panama City-Havana flights from 14 to 21, given the high demand of the route. The idea will become reality once the two sides write the corresponding diplomatic notes, AAP indicated.
SOURCE: Don Winner @ Panama-guide.com
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Source: VIP Panama
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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.”
The new flight to Maracaibo is in addition to two daily direct flights Copa Airlines currently offers between Panama and Caracas.
The Panama-Maracaibo route will be serviced by the Embraer 190AR aircraft, which have a capacity of 94 passengers: 10 in business class (”Clase Ejecutiva”) and 84 in economy class, and are equipped with the most advanced technology.
Copa Airlines is one of the leading passenger airlines in Latin America. Operating from its strategic location at the Hub of the Americas in the Republic of Panama, Copa currently offers approximately 92 daily scheduled flights to 30 destinations in 20 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean
SOURCE: Don Winner @ Panama-guide.com
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Source: VIP Panama
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Posted by Mike | Under Airline News, Panama Flights
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.
“Increasing flight frequencies not only proves the code-share agreement is successful, but more importantly, creates additional benefits for customers of both companies,” says Wilson Maciel Ramos, Vice President of Planning and Information Technology at GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes.
Under the code-share agreement, passengers flying to Brazil on Copa Airlines will travel through the Hub de las Americas to Guarulhos International Airport (Sao Paulo) with connection to Galeao International Airport (Rio de Janeiro).
“We are pleased to continue expanding our working alliance with GOL. This latest expansion increases the flights we jointly offer our passengers in code-share between Panama and Brazil, and further strengthens the Hub de las Americas,” says Jorge Garcia, Copa Airlines’ Commercial Vice President.
About GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, a low-cost, low-fare airline, is one of the most profitable and fastest-growing airlines in the industry worldwide. GOL currently offers over 430 daily flights to 49 major business and travel destinations in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay with substantial expansion opportunities. GOL’s shares are listed on the NYSE and the Bovespa. GOL: here everyone can fly!
For more information, access http://www.voegol.com.br
About Copa Airlines
Copa Airlines is one of the main passenger airlines in Latin America. The Company operates from its strategic position in the Hub de las Americas, in the Republic of Panama, and offers 80 daily flights to 30 destinations in 20 countries in North, South and Central America, and the Caribbean. For further information, please access http://www.copaair.com .
CONTACT:
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A.
tel.: (5511) 5033-4393
e-mail: http://thepanamanetwork.com
http://www.voegol.com.br/ir
SOURCE: Don Winner @ Panama-guide.com
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Source: VIP Panama
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Posted by Mike | Under Airline News
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.
http://news.flightmapping.com/07/10/04/klm-to-start-panama-flights-from-amsterdam_1505.html
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