Only  three or four Copa planes will fly when restart  arrives

As Covid-19  infections and deaths  continue to spiral upwards in Panama the outlook for the airline and tourism sector becomes bleaker.

After the Civil Aviation Authority (AAC) extended for the fourth time the suspension of commercial aviation that has been in place since March Copa Airlines cut its estimate on the number of aircraft it will use once it restarts its operations.

Before the AAC extended the closure of Tocumen International Airport until August 22, Copa projected that on August 7 it would return with 10% of its fleet, which is the equivalent of about 10 aircraft, but now it has reduced the number of aircraft that will be used during the first stage of restarting flights.

This means that of the 102 aircraft that make up the company’s fleet, between 3 and 4 would come into operation from September 5, which is the date set by the airline to return to the skies.

Spokesmen for the airline commented that if operations begin after September 4, the flights will only be carried out on Fridays and Sundays for a period of two weeks and that it would not be until October that they will resume daily flights, but in a reduced way.

Before the closure of Panamanian airspace to commercial flights, Copa Airlines carried out 350 daily operations between takeoffs and landings from Tocumen.

Pedro Heilbron, executive director of Copa Airlines, has indicated that the company will have enough planes to meet demand after the pandemic.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported that recovery of air traffic to the previous levels of the pandemic will take between 3 and 4 years.

In June, Copa Airlines reported that of the 89 destinations it was flying to directly from Panama prior to Covid-19, only 25 would be operating in the first phase of the restart, but this list will also record changes due to the reduction in the number. of aircraft to be used by the company since September …  if the AAC does not extend the suspension on commercial flights for the fifth time.

Since May, Copa Airlines has accepted Decree 81 of March 20, which allows the suspension of contracts in the context of the respiratory pandemic.

In Panama, the company has a payroll of 7,000  employees, which exceeds the number needed to resume operations.

Cristóbal Sousa, general secretary of the National Federation of Airport Industry Workers, commented that the company presented the second phase of its voluntary retirement program in order to reduce the size of the workforce.

In May, the company reported that in the first stage of the program 1,500 workers agreed to modify their employment status.

Of this total, 800 chose to leave the company, while another 700 took leave without pay for 6 months.