COPA Has Launched Flights From Panama To San Diego: Excellent

Intro

As someone who lives* in Southern California, I cannot believe I have missed this...

Copa Airlines, the flag carrier of Panama, has taken up the role of connecting regions all over the Americas to other parts of the Americas at a lower price point than most carriers. Serving routes as far north as Montreal and as far south as Montevideo, Copa has become an important airline to use when flying in the Americas.

The Details

With San Diego growing quite substantially as an airport, it seems that Copa Airlines has seen the demand that might come from the destination. As of Friday, June 27th, Copa Airlines has launched its first non-stop route from Panama to San Diego utilizing a 737 Max 9. The route is operated 4x weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with the following schedule:

CM847: Panama-San Diego departing at 1:15 pm and arriving at 5:44 pm

CM848: San Diego-Panama departing at 9:08 pm and arriving at 5:25 am (+1)

This route will feature lie-flat seats in business class

Fares start at about 1200 OW in Business, and 2300$ Roundtrip when flying direct. However, if you are looking to go to Lima or other destinations, the price comes down considerably to 850$.

Economy fares start at about 140$ one-way, and come out to about 300$ round-trip. A very reasonable option to get down to one of the marlin fishing capitals of the world.

My Thoughts

This is a really smart and interesting route development by Copa Airlines, but a couple of things do stand out to me here:

• It's interesting to see that the plane sits so long on the ground in San Diego. 3.5 hours in San Diego isn't exactly the best usage of an aircraft, especially when a narrowbody can easily be turned around in about an hour.

• Going off that point, I would have expected the outbound to depart later in hopes of grabbing more connecting traffic, but I presume this must be to do with aircraft available and scheduling.

• Lastly, and while I love it, I am surprised to see Copa offer their 737 Max 9 on this route with lie-flat seats. Copa has two different layouts on their Max 9 in business (one with 4 rows, and one with three), and the airline has adopted the three-row layout, subject to changes...

For those looking to snag up an award seat, there seems to be some available in economy for 20K United Miles, but few in business at a saver rate.

Final Thoughts

Copa Airlines has quietly launched its inaugural flight today from Panama Tocumen up to San Diego, which is set to operate 4x weekly. For those living in Southern California, this might make it a lot easier when heading down to Central/South America, especially with having to avoid LAX...