Copa Airlines ✈️ projects 8% increase in passenger growth for 2025, with more than 18.5 million passengers carried at the end of this year. A trend the Panamanian airline 🇵🇦 expects to continue over the coming years. To facilitate the growth, Copa Airlines is also adding new destinations & planes to its inventory.
These announcements were made by the airline’s CEO Pedro Heilbron at the end of April, sharing the company’s growth and investment plans for 2025. Copa Airlines, Panama’s flag carrier airline, is part of the Star Alliance network and also has a partnership with Air France-KLM.
New Routes: San Diego, Tucumán and Salta
Copa Airlines is set to launch a service to San Diego, California, its 17th destination in the United States 🇺🇸. In addition, beginning in September, the airline will expand its network in northwestern Argentina 🇦🇷 by adding Tucumán and Salta, bringing its total destinations in the country to six and overall to 88 destinations in 32 countries.
The new destinations and more frequent flights are made possible due to an annual investment of $1.7 billion (based on list prices) aimed at gradually growing its Boeing 737 MAX fleet ✈️. Copa expects to receive 13 more 737 MAX this year, brining the total to number of operated aircraft to 114 by the end of 2025. Over the next five years, Copa Airlines is scheduled to receive 57 additional Boeing 737 MAX aircraft currently on order.
Results of the Panama Stopover Program
Copa Airlines also shared the outcomes of its Panama Stopover Program, a stopover in Panama at no extra cost to the passenger’s. airfare. By the close of 2024, over 160,000 travelers had taken advantage of the program, a 25% rise from 2023, accounting for 8% of all tourist arrivals. Bookings were up 24% in early 2025 and the program expects to reach 185,000 visitors by year’s end.
Read more in Copa Airlines Press Release.