When it comes to adding routes, Copa Airlines has been on a tare for a few years now. Earlier this month, they announced another direct flight to the United States, this time to San Francisco. San Francisco is the carrier’s 2ndCalifornia destination, after Los Angeles, and will be their longest non-stop flight as far as distance and time. Flights will be daily, and begin in September, making San Francisco the 13th direct flight destination in the US, and the 5th in just 2.5 years. This is a great addition for people who do business and plan to vacation in the popular California city, but there’s also another big silver lining in this new route; Asia. San Francisco has some of the most direct flights to China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. And that will mean added international business for Panama.
How Asia factors into Copa’s new SF route
San Francisco may be known as more of a tourism hub than a business hub, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The San Francisco bay area, specifically Silicon Valley, is home to the largest concentration of tech companies, most of which do a significant amount of business with Asia, Europe, and the Americas. As an Asian connection hub, San Francisco is considered the gateway for Eastern travel for many in the US, with Seattle and Los Angeles following right behind. Latin America, on the other hand, has very few direct flights to Asia, and Panama currently has none. Most Latin Americans who fly to Asia have to go through Los Angeles, Mexico City (albeit very limited, and only to China), or Sao Paulo.
With Panama adding a San Francisco route, not only Panamanians, but other Latin American business travelers can now connect through SFO by way of PTY. This saves them time, money, and will be a huge advantage in marketing Copa’s latest non-stop destination.
San Francisco is a tourism hotbed
Not only does it have big business and flight connection benefits, San Francisco is one of America’s hottest tourist destinations. It’s beautiful architecture, culinary scene, and music and art scene are some of the city’s biggest draws domestically and internationally. It has a temperate climate, and some of the US’ most popular landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge, and Fisherman’s Warf. San Francisco has many hotel options, and is also a big destination for conventions, which could be another critical market for air travel from Latin America.
Unlike Los Angeles, Copa’s other California destination; it’s a very walkable city, and has plenty of green space and parks for outdoor recreation. It has a massive international community, and many Spanish speakers, making it a popular destination for Latin American tourism as well.
Opening the Panama market to Northern California
On top of opening the doors for visitors from Latin America, Copa’s new route will incentivize bay area residents to visit , do business, retire or invest in Panama. The San Francisco Bay, as we mentioned before, is a huge tech hub, and has a lot of potential foreign investors who may now be incentivized to check out what Panama has to offer. Also, with one of the US’ highest average income rates for residents, this could mean big bucks for Panamanian tourism, making it easier for Northen Californians to come visit and giving them an incentive to do so. As it’s such a big Asian hub, this will also help encourage tourism from that region as well.
This is a big step for Copa on all fronts, and with the arrival of the new Boeing Max jets this year, could be a precursor to test the market for direct Asian flights in the near future.
