Ready to fly: Copa Airlines arrives in Las Vegas in June. Photo: LatinFlyer.com
By Mark Chesnut
Travelers flying between Las Vegas and Latin America will have new options this year, thanks to new flights from Copa Airlines, the Panama City-based airline that is one of the fastest-growing carriers south of the border. The company is also adding three additional new destinations to its route map and getting ready to join the Star Alliance.
Passengers flying from Las Vegas will be able to make connections at the so-called “Hub of the Americas,” Copa’s main hub in Panama City, Panama. The carrier flies to 63 destinations in 29 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Las Vegas is Copa’s seventh U.S. destination.
“We are very pleased to launch the only non-stop service to Las Vegas, a major tourism, convention and entertainment center, and the first direct service betweenLas Vegas and Central and South America,” said Joseph Mohan, Copa’s commercial and planning vice president. “Panama was number one in the New York Times list of 45 places to visit in 2012, and our new flight also will offer the fastest and most direct way to fly to Las Vegas from Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru and from many other destinations in Latin America.”
The new nonstop service linking Vegas with Panama City begins on June 27, with four weekly flights. The airline’s expansion this year also includes new service to the island of Curacao, which begins on June 10; Recife, Brazil, starting on June 23; and Liberia, Costa Rica, to debut on June 24. The airline added nine destinations to its network in 2011.
To keep up with the growth, Copa is adding 10 new Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft this year, bringing its total fleet count to 83.
In April, Copa Airlines will join Star Alliance, increasing the potential for south-bound travelers to accrue frequent flyer mileage with carriers like United Airlines and US Airways.
Mark Chesnut is a travel writer, editor and publisher of LatinFlyer.com, which focuses on travel to Latin America. For some reason, he loves staring at route maps.
