Copa Airlines in talks to launch new Pittsburgh-Panama City route

Pittsburgh International Airport has already seen the launch of nonstop flights to Frankfurt and Iceland in recent past. And, the airport now wants to add Panama City as well in its growing list of destinations. Media reports said that Copa Airlines has been approached by the Allegheny County Airport Authority for launching new service to Panama City from Pittsburgh.

Copa Airlines has been fast expanding its network to the United States. The airline is set to make Denver its 13th gateway in the country in December 2017. The airline is currently serving many U.S. cities, which includes Las Vegas, Tampa, New Orleans, Fort Lauderdale and Boston.

It may be noted that Copa Airlines conducts its flights operations out of its primary hub at Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport. The airline is presently connecting 69 destinations spanning in the Caribbean, North America, Central America and South America with nearly 355 flights services.

Copa Airlines’ spokeswoman Alyson Walls has confirmed that Christina Cassotis, CEO of Allegheny County Airport Authority, is presently holding talks with the airline to launch flights from Pittsburgh to Panama City. The outcome is yet to be known. No timeframe has been given for concluding the talks. Cassotis however said that the expanding of international network is part of the airport’s strategy, and it would be simply good if the airline finally agrees to launch its services out of here.

Cassotis, Pittsburgh airport’s CEO, said, “If we finally succeed in bringing Copa Airlines to the airport then the Pittsburgh market will open up to Latin America. The hub infrastructure is quite good, and we consider the airline to be financially strong.”

Travel experts though are keeping their fingers crossed. They fear that there will be low traffic between Panama City and Pittsburgh as of now because five people or even less are flying daily on the route. This will gradually increase, but won’t be sufficient to fill a small narrow-body aircrafts such as an Airbus 320 or a Boeing 737 aircraft.