Airline Profile: Copa Airlines

Featured Image: A Copa Airlines Boeing 737-700 At Washington Dulles Airport

The Facts:

Analysis:

5 Things You Need To Know About Copa Airlines

• Copa Airlines is Panama’s (by far) largest airline. Their main hub is at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City where they fly to numerous destinations around both North and South America.
• Copa Airlines has two subsidiaries: Copa Airlines Colombia and Wingo. Copa Airlines Columbia doesn’t actually have a real hub in Columbia, but rather their planes are registered there and they fly to multiple routes in Columbia from Panama City. Their other subsidiary, Wingo, a low-cost carrier, founded in 2016, has a hub in Bogota and flies to numerous destinations from there around South America.
• Copa’s fleet consists mainly of Boeing 737 series aircraft (737-700, 737-800, and the 737 MAX 9). However, they do also have a small fleet of Embraer E190s.
• Seeing a picture of a Copa Airlines plane, you might see that the livery looks similar to the United Airlines livery. This is because around 20 years ago, Continental Airlines bought a significant stake in Copa Airlines. In 1999, their planes started wearing a similar livery to Continental’s with a similar tail, logo, and gold stripe on the fuselage. They also adopted Continental’s frequent flyer program and for some time had United’s MileagePlus. Since then, Continental merged with United who now wears Continental’s old livery. Also, United doesn’t have stock in Copa, so the only relationship the two airlines have is the shared alliance that they are in and their similar liveries.
• In the US and Canada, Copa Airlines flies from Panama City to Boston, New York, Washington DC, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Toronto, Montreal, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Chicago, and Denver.

Travel Classes:

Economy Class:

 On Copa Airlines, economy class is in a 3-3 configuration on all Boeing 737s and is in a 2-2 configuration on all Embraer E190s. Free personal on-demand entertainment is available on all Boeing 737-800s and personal device entertainment is available on all Boeing 737 MAX 9s. Please note that no entertainment (besides overhead monitors) are available on Boeing 737-700s or Embraer E190s, although they are used mostly on short-haul flights. WiFi Warm meals are available free of charge on all flights longer than two hours, and small snacks are available on all other flights.

Passengers can check one 23kg (50lbs) on each flight and can carry on one 10kg (22lbs) bag on each flight. While not that important, a fun fact is that Copa Airlines’ seat finishings/paddings may look familiar if you were to board their aircraft – that is because they use Continental/United’s old interior finishings on many of their aircraf.t

Economy Extra: 

With the introduction of the 737 MAX, Copa Airlines overhauled all of their cabins. In economy class, seatback screens were eliminated but were replaced with personal device entertainment and tablet holders. Additionally, Economy Extra was introduced. It pretty much is similar to United’s Economy Plus because the cabin section has more legroom than economy class – it has 34 inches of legroom instead of 30. Also, Economy Extra on the 737 MAX has personal on-demand entertainment screens which are not available in the regular economy class section. The cabin only has four rows of Extra and has 24 seats on the 737 MAX, although in the future it will probably be expanded to other aircraft types. As far as I know, baggage allowances are the same in both cabin classes.

Business Class: 

Copa Airlines has business class installed on all Boeing 737s and some Embraer E190s in multiple configurations which I list below. Additionally, passengers receive amenities such as blankets, amenity kits, and pillows on longer international flights. Also, passengers have access to Copa Clubs which are located in Panama City, Santo Domingo, Bogota, Guatemala City, San Jose de Costa Rica, and Medellin which have showers, food, playrooms for children, WiFi, bars, and newsstands at select locations. Passengers also have access to partnering Star Alliance Gold lounges (such as United Clubs). Passengers are also allowed to check three 32kg (70lbs) bags for each flight. Below are listed the two different business class seat types on Copa Airlines.

Recliner: Copa Airlines has recliner seats on all Boeing 737-700s, 737-800s, and on some Embraer E190s. On the E190s, they are in a 1-2 configuration while on the 737s, they are in a 2-2 configuration. Copa Airlines has multiple versions of recliner seats which depend on what aircraft you are on. Boeing 737-700s and Embraer E190s feature recliner seats which do not have any form of in-flight entertainment and do not have leg rests. However, most of Copa’s Boeing 737-800s have newer seats which have (small) personal on-demand entertainment screens, more recline, and leg rests which can extend from under the seat. In addition, they have power outlets and USB ports.

Flat Bed (Dreams Business Class): Copa Airlines recently introduced new cabins on their 737 MAX 9s (as discussed earlier) which also included new business class cabins. Copa decided to take a bold new leap in terms of premium cabins by introducing their first business class cabin with flatbed seats (180 degrees recline)! Copa is (correct me if I am wrong) the second airline to have flatbed seats on their 737s, after FlyDubai. They have 16 Rockwell Collins Diamond seats in business class, which is the same model that United uses on their 757s, 767s, and 787s, and is also the seat that American and Delta use on their 757s.

The seats have large entertainment screens, power outlets, remotes with touchscreens, and USB ports. For an airline that doesn’t operate long-haul routes and only has narrowbodies, this was an impressive move by Copa. They only have a handful of 737 MAXs now but intend to take delivery of many more over the next few years. The seat is definitely worth flying out of your way for and is currently flown from Panama City to:

• San Francisco (2x Daily)
• Buenos Aires (2x Daily)
• Los Angeles
• Bogota
• More routes will be added once they take delivery of more aircraft

Have you ever flown on Copa Airlines? Share about your experience below in the comments section!