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.
Source: Flight International
