The US, which banned all air transport with Venezuela 13 months ago, has fined Copa Airlines $450,000 for “unlawfully transporting passengers” between the two countries.
Aviation consultancy ASM has helped to secure a major new international route for Suriname with the confirmation that Star Alliance member Copa Airlines is to launch a twice weekly service from the South American country to Panama City.
The new route to Chiclayo will foster economic development in northern Peru, enhancing opportunities for stronger commercial ties with the American continent and will complement the airline’s existing flights into Lima. It extends the airline’s ‘Hub of the Americas’ operation from Tocumen International Airport in Panama City to 76 cities in 31 countries in North, Central, South America and the Caribbean.
Copa already has more than 20 years of experience in the Cuban market and now offers seven daily flights between Panama City and Havana and since 2014 also a four times weekly link to Santa Clara. According to schedule data, the airline has grown its annual capacity into Cuba by 77.1 per cent since the start of the decade, an average annual rise of 15.4 per cent.
Both a vibrant metropolis and gateway to tropical destinations, Panama City is also the economic and financial centre of Panama with the major industries being international banking, commerce, and tourism. Located between North and South America, as well as the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Panama City has developed an unrivalled transportation and communication network.
The new twice weekly link between Panama City and Belize City will be introduced from December 8, 2015 and will be operated using 94-seat Embraer 190 equipment configured with 10 seats in business class and 84 in the main cabin. Following its addition to the Copa Airlines route map, the carrier’s network now covers 75 cities in 31 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
The four-times-weekly flights will operate between Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) and the airlines main base in Panama City, and will offer convenient connections to more than 55 destinations in Central and South America.
From November 16, 2015, the airline will operate year-round flights between Frankfurt and Panama City five times weekly, subject to government approval.
The new flight will offer travellers in the Denver area with direct access to the Panamanian capital as well as numerous connections to several additional cities in Central and South America through United's strategic partnership with Copa Airlines.
The confirmation of the return of the route will now place the carrier in direct competition with its local rival Air Europa which inaugurated its own operations between Madrid and Montevideo in June 2013 just three months after Iberia ended its flights.
Air France last week introduced a new three times weekly link between its Paris Charles de Gaulle hub and Brasília International Airport in Brazil’s capital city. The service commenced on March 31, 2014 and is operated by a Boeing 777-200 equipped with 309 seats.
