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  Copa Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  CM/CMP

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Tocumen International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1944

  Alliance:

  Star Alliance

  CEO:

  Pedro Heilbron

  Country:

  Panama

  Region:

  South America

On Wednesday, Copa Airlines revealed a retrofitted Boeing 737-800NG, wearing the livery the airline had back in the 1990s. The Panamanian carrier introduced this plane as part of its 75th-anniversary celebrations.

What a nice plane

Copa Airlines is celebrating its 75th anniversary in style. The airline has retrofitted a Boeing 737-800NG and painted it with a livery that takes us back to the 1990s when Copa Airlines was creating the successful ‘Hub of the Americas’ at Tocumen International Airport (PTY). Copa moved to Tocumen in 1992.

The retrofitted Boeing 737-800 has a registration HP-1841CMP. It is eight years old and was first delivered to Copa Airlines in September 2014. It has a capacity to carry 154 passengers in a two-class configuration (138 in economy and 16 in business). Copa Airlines leases this plane from Yamasa Sangyo and it has totaled up to 31,442 flight hours in its history.

Darren Hulst, vice president of Commercial Marketing at Boeing, wrote,

“Congratulations to Copa Airlines for 75 years in aviation! It is hard to think of a more successful and efficient airline than the one that has run the Hub of the Americas in Panama over the last 30 years with an incredible connecting reach from Buenos Aires to San Francisco.”

Commercial flights

Following the introduction of the retrofitted 737-800NG, Copa Airlines wasted no time putting the aircraft back in commercial service. According to FlightRadar24.com, this plane was scheduled to operate a round flight between Panama City and New York JFK Airport between August 31 and September 1.

Copa Airlines’ history

Copa Airlines was founded in 1947 as the flag carrier of Panama. It began operations with flights to three Panamanian cities on Douglas DC-3/C47 planes. Two decades later, the airline launched its first international service to San José, Costa Rica.

It was between 1980 and 1998 that Copa Airlines mostly employed the livery we currently see on HP-1841CMP. During these nearly two decades, the airline withdrew from the domestic market and focused on its international reach. In 1980, Copa added its first Boeing 737-100, the beginning of a history that continues to this day. Currently, Copa is one of the three 100% Boeing only operators in Latin America (the others are GOL in Brazil and Arajet in the Dominican Republic).

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During the 1980s, the airline expanded its network of destinations to include flights to Port-au-Prince in Haití, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, San Juan in Puerto Rico, and Miami in the United States.

In 1992, it moved to Tocumen and began employing this airport as its hub to connect flights throughout Latin America, thus creating the Hub of the Americas. Flights were added to destinations such as Caracas, Mexico City, Santiago de Chile, Cali, Bogota, Quito, Guayaquil, Lima, Buenos Aires, and Havana. In 1998, Copa Airlines signed a strategic alliance with Continental Airlines. One year later, the Panamanian flag carrier launched its new brand as Copa Airlines, using the livery we know today (which is also very similar to Continental’s livery).

Have you traveled onboard a Copa Airlines flight? How was the experience? Let us know in the comments below.