Copa to slash flights and jobs as industry faces 3-year revival

The aviation industry will take at least three years to recover said  Pedro Heilbron CEO of Copa Airlines on Wednesday, May 20 in a La Prensa virtual forum.

He calculated that Copa Airlines, between April and December 2020, will operate with 19% of its available seating capacity, and in 2021, less than 41%.

The impact would be considerable, taking into account that the airline industry contributes 14% of the gross domestic product of the economy of Panama, with a generation of 238, 000 jobs.

“A large majority of airlines will not survive unless they have some state funding or subsidy,” Heilbron said but “Copa is not going to ask for subsidy, nor state financing. We are going to maintain our own mechanisms ”.

He stressed that air connectivity is part of Panama’s competitive advantages to host multinational companies because they serve the entire region and depend on air force and connectivity, Heilbron says.

He stressed that once passenger transport is reactivated, there must be coordination between countries regarding virus prevention protocols otherwise, there  will be chaos.

“Copa Airlines has a biosecurity committee and disaster recovery specialists, in addition to medical personnel and a medical committee, with whom the protocol for the first flight has been being planned,” he said.

Panama prohibited commercial and passenger flights until June 22. Copa has not operated since May 23, except for humanitarian or medical supplies transport flights. For now, the airline does not have a date to resume operations, although Heilbron calculates that, if Panama lifts its ban on June 22, Copa could fly with 10% of its fleet in July and, at the end of the year, with 40 %.

That means that out of a fleet of 100 aircraft, they would operate with 40 or fewer.