Despite registering sales of US$90 million dollars in its first year, Wingo, the low-cost subsidiary of Copa Holdings, which owns Copa Airlines, has not had perfect weather in all its operations.
The airline stopped operating the Costa Rica – Panama route due to the poor results. The airline had previously abandoned the Costa Rica – Guatemala route due to low demand.
Catalina Breton, general manager of the company with its base in Colombia, noted that not all routes have the same acceptance and it was decided to leave that market, so that the sister company Copa Airlines continues to meet the demand.
“There are other routes that have had a greater acceptance, such as flights to Colombia, where we already fly daily to some cities, and we have increased flights to others,” she said.
In Costa Rica, Wingo competed with Air Panama, which this year added a new flight from the San Jose, Costa Rica to Bocas del Toro, Panama, with a stop in the province of Chiriqui.
Regarding the profitability of Wingo, Breton said that there have been some months with profits, but still the balance sheet is negative.
In this sense, Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines, said that it will take time for Wingo to be profitable.
“He added that the company represented 2% of the revenues of Copa Holdings, which between July and September generated US$657 million dollars.
Breton added that the airline has an index of 99.8% of completed flights and a punctuality of 89.9%.
With a fleet of 4 aircraft with a capacity of 142 passengers, Wingo offers flights on 16 routes in 8 countries, with flights between Panama and Colombia (Bogota, Cartagena, Cali and Medellin) registering the highest passenger movement.
On flights to Colombia, the airline competes with Viva Colombia, both operating from the Panama Pacifico terminal, at the Albrook “Marcos A. Gelabert” International Airport, 1.5 km west of the center of Panama City, on the site of the former Albrook Air Force base.
Also based at Albrook is Air Panama, a regional airline and is currently the second-largest air carrier in Panama, surpassed only by Copa Airlines. The carrier offers both scheduled and charter passenger flights to more than 31 destinations, including San Jose, Costa Rica
