Copa Holdings´recovery moves to the rhythm of the new restrictions

Due to season flow and the impact of the new restrictions on people movement established by different governments in the region, during February the passenger traffic of Copa Holdings (which includes Copa and Wingo operations) approached again at levels of 30% compared to the same month in 2020: the lowest value since last November, according to preliminary numbers released this Wednesday by the company.

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The capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASM), reached a level of 37.2% compared to February 2021.

This resulted in a 69.6% load factor, a drop of 14.4 percentage points. Good capacity management made an improvement of six points when compared to January when it stood at 63.4%.

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Data obtained by Aviacionline through Cirium, the global aeronautical intelligence company, shows the bigger impact of the pandemic happening on Copa than on Wingo, which makes sense considering the diversity of the markets they serve, as the second is most focused on northern countries of South America, Central America and the Caribbean in which the restrictions remain flexible.

During February, Copa Airlines’ offer, measured in ASM, fell 63.5% while Wingo’s fell 27.9% with 3,053 and 548 scheduled flights respectively.

The Panamanian airline served from its hub at Tocumen Airport only 57 destinations of the almost 80 that operated prior to the pandemic.

So far the capacity projection for March, based on Cirium, indicates a growth of 6.3% compared to February and recovery to levels of almost 38% compared to the same month of 2020 (which already felt the impact of the pandemic in the second fortnight).