San Diego’s newest overseas nonstop flight, to Panama, starts today – San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diegans who travel to Panama City will now have a nonstop flight option — and quick access to points nearby.

Copa Airlines’ first flight to Panama City, Panama, is scheduled to take off from San Diego International Airport around 9 p.m. It marks a roughly 12-year effort of San Diego officials to secure a convenient connection to Latin America.

Airport officials said the flight will provide quicker access to Central and South America, including such destinations as São Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; San Jose, Costa Rica; Bogotá, Colombia; and Lima, Peru.

Copa will fly the route four days a week to Tocumen International Airport in Panama City. It will operate year-round on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Dennis Cary, the airline’s senior vice president and chief commercial officer, said Copa will typically review its routes twice a year to gauge demand as the seasons change, but early bookings show promise for the new San Diego flight.

“We’re seeing really strong demand,” Cary said in an interview with the Union-Tribune. “Obviously we’re starting it in high season for a reason but as we get into the fall we’ll have a little better gauge of how quickly it might spool up. We’ve served LA for more than 20 years, and we are looking at how San Diego is doing relative to LA, a market we know, and it’s holding its own quite nicely.”

It took some time for Copa to gauge whether there was enough demand to warrant a San Diego nonstop, but the airline was aware there was a certain number of travelers locally who were driving north to Los Angeles to take the Panama nonstop from there, but then COVID intervened, Cary said.

“Finally we’re growing again and part of that growth story is finally being able to put San Diego on our route map,” Cary said. “Pre-COVID, San Diego was not quite there yet relative to the other alternatives we looked at, everything from Canada to Argentina. The competition wasn’t just with other U.S. cities.”

One unique feature of the new flight, which Cary believes will be a big draw, is what’s known as the “Panama Stopover” program that  allows passengers to stop off and explore Panama for up to seven days when flying to or from other destinations served by Copa. There is no extra cost to the fare when booking the stopover.

“Many people don’t know about Copa and may not be thinking Panama,” Cary said, “but if they’re going to Costa Rica or Colombia, which are booming, or Peru or into the Caribbean, you can basically do two vacations in one and sample Panama as part of your overall vacation.”

A one-way economy ticket from San Diego to Panama City for next week was listed for $359.25 on Copa Airlines’ website. It was $1,322.25 for business class, which comes with two checked bags, seat selection and other benefits. Flights later in the year are cheaper. For instance, a round-trip to Panama in early September would run around $340 for its most basic options.

Copa Airlines will use a Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, which can seat up to 220 passengers.

The airplane will take its first passengers from Panama and arrive in San Diego at 5:45 p.m. An opening ceremony will be held with the plane, before taking off with its first Panama bound flight later that night. This will mark the Panama City-based airline’s 17th U.S. destination, and is make for San Diego’s  International’s 11th international destination. Copa has operated out of San Francisco for 10 years, and Los Angeles for 25 years.