Copa Airlines Colombia

Copa Airlines Colombia is a commercial passenger airline founded and registered under the corporate name of Aero República S.A. in November 1992, and is the second airline in Colombia for international passengers carried after Avianca and the third in total traffic. It covers national and international destinations from the El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá and from the main cities of Colombia. As of October 5, 2010, the airline used the trade name of Copa Airlines Colombia.

Copa Airlines Colombia
IATA ICAO Callsign
P5/CM* RPB AEROREPUBLICA
Founded23 November 1992 (as AeroRepública)
Commenced operations6 October 2010
Hubs
Focus cities
Frequent-flyer programConnectMiles
AllianceStar Alliance (affiliate)
Fleet size1
Destinations20
Parent companyCopa Holdings, S.A.
HeadquartersBogotá, Colombia
Key peopleEduardo Lombana (CEO)
WebsiteCopa Airlines Colombia

The national operations of Copa Airlines Colombia were replaced by a new low-cost airline subsidized by its parent company Copa Holdings, S.A. known as Wingo (airline), in December 2016.

History

Founding
An AeroRepública Douglas DC-9-30 at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport (1994).

In 1992, during the economic liberalization policy of Colombian President César Gaviria, under the leadership of Alfonso Velandia and Amos Ginor, negotiations began to create AeroRepública, the first private airline to be created in Colombia in years. The airline started operations on 19 June 1993, with Boeing 727-100 aircraft painted with the yellow, blue and red colors of the flag of Colombia, initially flying to Colombian coastal cities, such as Santa Marta, Cartagena, and San Andrés from Bogotá.

In the first months of operations, AeroRepública added new domestic destinations such as Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, Montería, and Leticia. It also launched international services to Aruba and Cuba. Meanwhile, the old 727-100s were replaced by second-hand McDonnell-Douglas DC-9-30 aircraft purchased from Continental Airlines and Alitalia.

Operational Mishaps and Restructuring (1993–2005)

During the first years of operations, AeroRepública's reputation became tarnished due to constant mechanical problems with its ageing fleet, low punctuality, and mismanagement. Furthermore, the airline was grounded by Colombia's Aerocivil for two weeks in May 1997 due to safety reasons. The airline's board of directors reversed the situation by restructuring its business processes, launching a new corporate image, acquiring a fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft, eliminating unprofitable routes, and adding the slogan "Live the Change" on advertisements.

Acquisition by Copa Airlines and Expansion (2005 – present)
An Embraer 190 of Copa Airlines Colombia at Tocumen International Airport (2011).
Former logo (until 2010).

In 2005, Panama's flag carrier, Copa Airlines, wanted to enter the Colombian market. After negotiating for several companies, including entering the auction for bankrupt Avianca, Copa acquired 90% of AeroRepública. With this acquisition, AeroRepública was completely transformed. The former president of the airline's board, Alfonso Avila Velandia, resigned and was succeeded by Roberto Junguito. AeroRepública adopted a corporate image similar to Copa's and Continental's (now United) and began the retirement of the MD-80 fleet, in favor of the more efficient Embraer 190 and Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

In early 2007, an AeroRepública Embraer E-190 took off from Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport, in Medellín, for a demonstration flight, although current regulations do not allow that type of aircraft to operate from/to that airport. In addition, domestic routes were consolidated and international services to Quito, Caracas, Panama City, Mexico, and elsewhere were launched, and service to Miami, São Paulo and other cities was planned.[1]

In 2010, Copa Holdings changed the airline's name from AeroRepública to Copa Airlines Colombia, thus unifying the brand.[2]

On 20 October 2016, Copa Holdings announced the creation of Wingo, a new low-cost airline operating under Copa Airlines Colombia, which will serve domestic and international routes and replace the Copa Airlines Colombia brand, which had been losing money for several years, and had lost $29.7 million in the first half of 2016.[3] The new airline started operations on 1 December 2016, with a fleet of four Boeing 737-700s, each with a 142-seat all-Economy configuration.

Destinations
Main article: List of Copa Airlines Colombia destinations

In October 2016, Copa Holdings announced that Copa Airlines Colombia would gradually activate some of its domestic routes through Wingo, its new subsidiary of low-cost flights. Initially only flights to Cartagena and San Andres Island were offered, but it was expected that Wingo would incrementally add national routes, even supplying domestic destinations that Copa Airlines Colombia has recently cancelled.

Copa Airlines Colombia currently flies to 17 destinations in 9 countries in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Main article: Wingo (airline)

Fleet

Current Fleet

As of January 2020, the Copa Airlines Colombia fleet consists of the following aircraft:[4]

Copa Airlines Colombia Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
J Y Total
Boeing 737-700 1 — 12 112 124 Leased from and operated for Copa Airlines
Total 1 0

Former Fleet

Copa Airlines Colombia previously operated the following aircraft:

Copa Airlines Colombia former fleet
Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Douglas DC-9-30 10 1994 2006
Embraer 190 17 2006 2019
McDonnell Douglas MD-81 5 2001 Unknown
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 3 2005 2009
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 4 2004 2010

ConnectMiles

ConnectMiles is Copa Airlines Colombia's frequent-flyer program, through a partnership with Copa Airlines. Customers accumulate miles from flight segments flown on Copa Airlines Colombia, Copa Airlines, and other Star Alliance member airlines. Benefits of Premier status include priority check-in, priority boarding, complimentary upgrades, and discounted airport lounge memberships (United Club/Copa Club). Due to the Continental-United merger, Copa Airlines Colombia phased out the OnePass frequent flyer program on 31 December 2011, and adopted the MileagePlus program on 3 March 2012.[5]

In March 2015, Copa Airlines announced that it would phase out the MileagePlus program in favor of ConnectMiles. The new program was fully implemented on 1 July 2015.[6][7]

Codeshare agreements

Copa Airlines Colombia has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Incidents and accidents
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References
  1. "Aero Republica to launch Mexico and Cuba services". Retrieved 2010-08-16. Aero Republica
  2. "Aero Republica becomes Copa Airlines Colombia". 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
  3. "Copa Launches New LLC to Stem Colombia Losses". flightglobal. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  4. "Copa Airlines Colombia Fleet Details and History". Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2012-08-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Introduction". Copa Airlines. Archived from the original on January 27, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  7. "Introduction". Copa Airlines. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  8. Flight International July 2005
  9. Accident description for Aero República Embraer ERJ 190-100IGW (ERJ-190AR) registration HK-4455 at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 17 November 2016.
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