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Our history
Copa Airlines was founded in 1947 as the national airline of Panama. It began operations with flights to three cities in Panama on Douglas DC-3/C47 planes. By 1966, the airline boasted three weekly flights to San Jose, Costa Rica, which was its first international destination. In 1969, the first AVRO 748 was introduced for flights to Kingston in Jamaica, Managua in Nicaragua and Barranquilla in Colombia. In the 70s Medellin, Cartagena, San Salvador and Guatemala became part of the expanding network of destinations.
1980
In 1980, the airline withdrew from the domestic market to focus on its international reach. This year a Boeing 737-100 was added to the fleet. During this decade, the airline expanded its network of destinations to include Port-au-Prince in Haiti, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, San Juan in Puerto Rico and Miami in the U.S
1992
In 1992, it began operating from the first Panamanian headquarters for flights connecting within Latin America, creating the Hub of the Americas in the Tocumen International Airport. Flights were added to Caracas in Venezuela, Mexico City, Santiago in Chile, Cali and Bogota in Colombia, Quito and Guayaquil in Ecuador, Lima in Peru, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Havana in Cuba.
2008
In 2008, it began operating flights to Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, and Belo Horizonte in Brazil, while announcing new destinations such as Santa Cruz in Bolivia, Valencia in Venezuela and Aruba. Copa Airlines continues adding destinations and upgrading its modern fleet with Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 planes, and Embraer 190 planes.
2010
Copa Airlines starts flying to the island of St. Maarten and announces that Aero República will operate under the Copa Airlines Colombia brand name. In addition, Copa Airlines communicates that it is in the process of joining the Star Alliance. Copa Airlines and Boeing announce the acquisition of 32 Next Generation 737-800 aircraft, including 10 purchase options, for a total of approximately US$2.6 billion dollars; the largest request for new aircraft in the history of Copa Airlines.
