Copa Airlines Colombia

AeroRepública S.A., operating as Copa Airlines Colombia,^[1] is an airline based in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the third-largest air carrier in Colombia.

It operates scheduled passenger service from Bogotá to 19 domestic and international destinations, as well as charter services to the United States and the Caribbean. Its hub is El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá, and José María Córdova International Airport in Medellín is a focus-city airport.^[2]

History

Founding as AeroRepública

AeroRepública began operations with Boeing 727-100 aircraft, such as this example seen at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport (December 1994).

In the early 1990s, during the economic liberalization policy of Colombian President César Gaviria, under the leadership of Alfonso Avila Velandia and Amos Ginor, negotiations began, in 1992, to create AeroRepública, the first private airline to be created in Colombia in years.

AeroRepública started operations in June 1993, with Boeing 727-100 aircraft painted with the yellow, blue, and red colors of the flag of Colombia, initially flying from Bogotá to Colombian coastal cities, such as Santa Marta, Cartagena, and San Andrés.

The Boeing 727s were later joined by Douglas DC-9-30 airframes such as this example seen in December 1994.

AeroRepública added new domestic destinations such as Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, Montería, and Leticia. Meanwhile, the old 727-100s were replaced by second-hand McDonnell-Douglas DC-9-30 ex-charter aircraft from Continental Airlines and Alitalia.

Quality decline and updating (1993 - 2005)

During the first decade of operations, AeroRepública was known for constant mechanical problems with its fleet, punctuality, and mismanagement by the board of directors. Consequently, the airline was nicknamed "AeroRecocha" ("Air Rage"). The board of AeroRepública reversed the situation by changing its business processes, corporate image and livery, acquiring a fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft and adding new destinations and the slogan "Live the Change" on advertisements.

Acquisition by Copa Airlines (2005 - 2010)

Panama's flag carrier, Copa Airlines, wanted to enter the Colombian market. After negotiating for several companies, including entering the auction for bankrupt Avianca, Copa acquired 90% percent of AeroRepública. With this acquisition, AeroRepública was transformed. The former president of the airline's board, Alfonso Avila Velandia, resigned and was succeeded by Roberto Junguito. AeroRepública adopted a livery and a corporate logo similar to Copa's and Continental's (now United). And it began to retire its MD-80 fleet, ordered 15 modern Embraer E-190 aircraft and acquired 10 Boeing 737-700s from Copa's fleet.

An Embraer 190 of Copa Airlines Colombia taking off from Tocumen International Airport (July 2012).

In early 2007, an AeroRepública Embraer E-190 took off from Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport, in Medellín, for a demonstration flight, although current regulations don't allow that type of aircraft to operate from the airport.

In addition, domestic routes were consolidated, international service to Quito, Caracas, Panama City, and elsewhere was begun, and service to Miami, São Paulo and other cities was planned. In August 2010, AeroRepública announced plans to serve Mexico and Cuba.^[3]

In October 2010, Copa Holdings changed the airline name from AeroRepública to Copa Airlines Colombia, completing the unification of the brand.^[4]

On 20 October 2016, Copa Holdings announced the creation of Wingo, a new low cost carrier, operating under Copa Airlines Colombia, that will serve domestic and international routes. The new low cost carrier is expected to begin operations on 1 December 2016 with a fleet of 4 Boeing 737-700s, each with a 142-seat configuration.

Destinations

Main article: Copa Airlines Colombia destinations

Fleet

As of November 2016 the Copa Airlines Colombia fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[5]

Copa Airlines Colombia Fleet
Aircraft	In Service	Orders	Passengers			Notes
Aircraft	In Service	Orders	J	Y	Total	Notes
Boeing 737-700	4	—	12	112	124	—
Embraer E-190	11	—	10	84	94
Embraer E-190	11	—	12	88	100
Total	15	0

ConnectMiles

ConnectMiles is Copa Airlines Colombia's frequent-flyer program, through a partnership with Copa Airlines. Customers accumulate miles from flight segments flown with Copa Airlines Colombia, Copa Airlines, or other partners of the Star Alliance. The program's elite tiers are Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Presidential Platinum. All of them have benefits such as mileage bonus, and priority in terms of check-in, seat reservations, and boarding.

The airline terminated its OnePass program, shared with Continental Airlines, on 2 March 2012, as a result of the merger of Continental with United. On 3 March 2012, Copa Airlines Colombia began to use United's MileagePlus frequent flyer program.^[6] Copa Airlines Colombia discontinued the MileagePlus program and replaced it with its own frequent flyer program, ConnectMiles.^[7]

Codeshare agreements

Copa Airlines Colombia has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

1 The codeshare with Air Panama is an interline agreement.

Incidents and accidents

On 8 January 2005, an AeroRepública McDonnell Douglas MD-83 overran the runway at Cali's Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport, Colombia, and the landing gear was torn off. There were no fatalities among the 6 crew and 164 passengers. The aircraft was written off.^[8]
On 17 July 2007, an Embraer ERJ-190 aircraft with the registration HK-4455, operating as AeroRepública Flight 7330, overshot the runway at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Santa Marta, Colombia, went down an embankment and came to rest with its nose in the ocean. There were no fatalities. Due to the extensive damage, the aircraft was written off.^[9]

References

↑ "Terms and Conditions." Copa Airlines. Retrieved on January 31, 2011.
↑ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-03-27. p. 50.
↑ "Aero Republica to launch Mexico and Cuba services". Retrieved 2010-08-16. Aero Republica
↑ "Aero Republica becomes Copa Airlines Colombia". 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
↑ "Fleet". Copa Airlines. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
↑ "About ConnectMiles". CopaAirlines: ConnectMiles. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
↑ Flight International July 2005
↑ Accident description for Aero República Embraer ERJ 190-100IGW (ERJ-190AR) registration HK-4455 at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 17 November 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Copa Airlines Colombia.

Copa Airlines Colombia official website (Spanish) (English)

Airlines of Colombia

Members of the International Air Transport Association

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