Checking on CO's Website they are hiring alot of people for Copa at JFK, must mean Copa's going to launch that route soon.

I've heard that, as well. I have a cousin-in-law (?) who is GM for CM in TGU, he told me that was one of their top routes to launch. It would be great to see them here.

It won't happen, though, unless and until Panama is upgraded from Category 2 by ICAO/FAA. And as of March 1, they were still in Category 2.

Doesnt Copa serve IAH already?

Doesnt Copa serve IAH already?


No. In the US they fly fourteen weekly flights to Miami, eleven to San Juan, seven to Los Angeles, and three to Orlando.

Thanks MAH, I assumed Scottb was mistaken, in his statement that Copa could not serve the USA.

Copa is part owned by CO, Corporate Identies nearly identical.

CO flies to Panama from EWR with a daily 737-800 (continues onwards to Guyaquil) and from IAH with a 737-800.

View Large View Medium Photo © Mark Kopczak

View Large View Medium Photo © Ron Peel

View Large View Medium Photo © Felipe Escalona

View Large View Medium Photo © Toni Marimon

Copa's fleet;

Boeing Aircraft Total
737-200 5
737-700 14
737-800 2
Total Fleet 21

Copa's Panama City gateway (trivia: find the two CO 737-800s mixed in with Copa's 737s)



Copa's destinations;

Barranquilla, Colombia
Bogota, Colombia
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cali, Colombia
Cancun, Mexico
Caracas, Venezuela
Cartagena, Colombia
Guatemala, Guatemala
Guayaquil, Ecuador
La Habana, Cuba
Kingston, Jamaica
Lima, Peru
Los Angeles, California
Managua, Nicaragua
Medellin, Colombia
Mexico City, Mex.
Miami, Florida USA
Orlando, Florida USA
Panama City, Panama
Port Au Prince, Haiti
Quito, Ecuador
San Jose, Costa Rica
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Salvador, El Salvador
Santiago, Chile
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Sao Paulo, Brasil
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

JFK?..

Here are the jobs CO has listed on their website;

NY-New York COPA Airlines - Part Time Airport Agent - 4/5
NY-New York COPA Airlines - Airport Supervisor - 4/5
NY-New York COPA Airlines - Airport Manager -

Looks like a high probability for an announcement within the next few weeks of the new route.

Why if EWR is a major CO hub isn't CM planning to fly to EWR rather than JFK? Is it because JFK is more convenient to the South/Central American and Caribbean population of New York City and surroundings?

It's because CO already has EWR covered, CM will cater to the folks from Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island.

if panama is category 2 that means that panamanian registered aircrafts can't operate flights to the us. then why they operate the us if they are category 1. i am from ecuador and there is a lot of potential for the ecuador-us market only if the faa let ecuadorean commercial aircrafts operate with hc's registered airplanes. hc is the registration code for ecuador.
can somebody explain........ 

STT757: I was looking at those same positions the other night during some job searching.

Panama, now a category 2 country, cannot add additional flights to the US at this point. It can continue operating the flights it already does. Therefore CM can continue to serve the US but cannot expand service or add cities.

Panama is working hard to bring back the category 1 really soon. Maybe Copa will start the flights as soon as Panama get the category 1 in June or July if everything works as planned.

Regards,

Felipe

STT757,

The two Continental 737 are the ones that are parked in front of the terminal as you can see the blue of the tail is darker than Copa's blue.

Regards,
Felipe

I thought CAT 2, would mean no aircraft with a registration of that country that is CAT 2, cant fly to the US.

I was mistake, ok, since AR flies to US with Argentinian registered a/c, knowing that they are CAT 2, why the Dominican Republic and other countries like Colombia, Venezuela etc, are not permited to fly into the US?

Why only some airlines could fly to the US being cat 2?

B752fanatic - Avianca regularly flies to MIA and JFK from Colombia.

I was mistake, ok, since AR flies to US with Argentinian registered a/c, knowing that they are CAT 2, why the Dominican Republic and other countries like Colombia, Venezuela etc, are not permited to fly into the US?

Old services are grandfathered in.

Argentina is Cat. II, but they were flying to the US before the Cat. II. rating.

B752fanatic - Avianca regularly flies to MIA and JFK from Colombia.


They also fly to FLL daily (JFK: 9 weekly; MIA: 30 weekly). However, IIRC, many/most of the planes they fly to the US are registered by thier US subsidiary, or something like that. I don't know the exact details.

Yeah AV's aircraft are all have N registration.

And Aeropostal, has leased some 72's from Falcon Air, instead of using some of their 72's that they have with the YV registration.

Another one is TA, they use N registration.

So other airlines could come to the US, being in CAT 2, because they have some people that could talk to them?

Dominicana De Aviacion was flying 727's to the US, and in 1993, the US took Dominican Republic to CAT 2, and they did not let any HI aircraft in the US not even the Dominicana aircrafts.

I remember once, when Avensa was flying in the US, the US decided to take Venezuela down to CAT 2, and all of the flights that Avensa had were grounded, and could not carry pax in or out of the US. Then the Venezuelan government did not let N aircrafts in Venezuela as retaliation. That took days.

Anyone think that CM will ever launch SFO ops? We only have one Central American airline (TACA), and I think we could support one more. I am suprised RG hasn't launched ops here. I know they once flew here, but that was like ten years ago. I bet we could support a flight to LIM here too.

-Copa

Anyone think that CM will ever launch SFO ops? We only have one Central American airline (TACA), and I think we could support one more. I am suprised RG hasn't launched ops here. I know they once flew here, but that was like ten years ago. I bet we could support a flight to LIM here too.


SFO's flights to San Salvador on Grupo TACA adequately serve the market. There is no need for any other service.

I do agree with you, however, that Copa could do well on SFO-PTY given thier connecting oppurtunities available at PTY, but I don't think Copa will be flying to SFO.

I would not expect Varig or LIM service at SFO anytime soon, however.

B752fanatic,


Yeah AV's aircraft are all have N registration.


A lot, but certainly not all. A large slice of the fleet is registered EI-XXX, and they also fly to the US with these aircraft.

View Large View Medium Photo © Mark Kopczak

View Large View Medium Photo © Felipe Escalona

The Fokker-50 fleet is registered PH-XXXX though.


SOUTHAMERICA