Copa Airlines (CM, Panamá City Tocumen International) has decided to temporarily axe four routes, to México City Felipe Angeles, Tulum Felipe Carrillo International, Armenia, and Santiago de los Caballeros, due to the ongoing delays in Boeing’s new B737 MAX deliveries, according to Copa Holdings’s chief executive, Pedro Heilbron.
“The reason we’re doing that is tied to aircraft deliveries. So these are four markets that have an alternative airport around the corner [...] where we fly with many daily frequencies. We’re going to deploy that capacity to other markets where we have strong demand and not enough aircraft,” he said during an investor call for the holding’s third-quarter financial results.
The plan is to return to these airports by the end of next year, he added.
Earlier in the year, Copa Holdings announced that the group would close the year with a fleet of 112 aircraft, down three deliveries versus the original expectation. It said two remaining airframes waiting to be delivered are still expected before the end of the year, despite the recent delays at the manufacturer.
Copa Airlines currently operates 101 aircraft (nine B737-700s, one B737-8, fifty-eight B737-800s, thirty-two B737-9s, and one B737-800(BCF)), according to the ch-aviation fleets module, while sister carrier Copa Airlines Colombia (P5, Bogotá) operates nine B737-800s under the Wingo (Colombia) brand.
“Regarding 2025 deliveries, Boeing has updated its delivery schedule to account for the recent delays, and we now plan to receive eleven B737-8s next year to close the year with a fleet of 123 aircraft,” said Heilbron.
Nonetheless, he remains wary, he told ch-aviation last month, as the delivery schedule has several production ramp-up assumptions that need to materialise for Boeing to hold its end of the bargain.
To cope with the delivery delays and reduced output from the US manufacturer, Copa Airlines will not retire two B737-700s that were supposed to leave by 2025, Heilbron said.
