Copa Airlines To Launch Flights To Baltimore/Washington

Aaron Karp January 27, 2023

Panama's Copa Airlines will launch service to Baltimore/Washington (BWI) in the northern hemisphere summer, growing its US network to 14 airports.

Flights between Panama City Tocumen (PTY) and BWI will commence from June 28. The service will be operated 4X-weekly using a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The route will be exclusive to Copa.

The Star Alliance carrier already serves Washington Dulles (IAD), located 58 mi. to the south of BWI.

Copa VP and CCO Dennis Cary said in a statement that Baltimore is “a city with great history and tourism appeal,” adding: “With this new route, we continue working toward our objective [of] increasing connectivity in the countries in which we operate and connecting travelers with all of the Americas, while contributing to the tourism and economic development of the Baltimore area.”

BWI CEO Ricky Smith said: “Copa will link Maryland … with the rich culture of Panama and offer easy connections across Latin America.”

BWI-originating passengers will gain access to Copa’s PTY hub, known as the “Hub of the Americas” because of its central location and the airline’s network of nearly 80 destinations in 32 countries in the Americas.

Cary noted BWI-originating passengers will be able to connect to more than 55 cities in Latin America via PTY.

Additionally, Copa revealed it will open service between PTY and Manta (MEC) in Ecuador from June 27. Frequencies on the route, on which Copa will be the only operator, were not revealed. Copa already serves Guayaquil (GYE) and Quito (UIO) in Ecuador.

Copa fully restored its pre-pandemic capacity in 2022; the airline temporarily was completely shut down for part of 2020.