If you are traveling this year and are thinking of trying a new airline, you’re probably looking to guarantee you will have a safe and smooth experience. Air travel is considered the safest way to travel, but it is still a scary or anxiety inducing experience for many.
You may have heard of Copa Airlines if your summer plans are taking you throughout the Americas. This may be an opportunity to spend less on air travel, but is Copa Airlines safe? Here is everything you need to know about the airline to help you decide if you should purchase that ticket.
What Is Copa Airlines?
Copa Airlines is a full-service carrier founded in 1947 as the national airline of Panama. While initially focused on domestic flights within Panama, the airline began international operations in the 1960s, primarily serving destinations in Central and South America. Since then, Copa Airlines has steadily expanded its international network to include more than 80 destinations in over 30 countries within North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. The airline’s main hub is located at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, which serves as a key connecting point for passengers.
Copa Airlines offers a range of services to its passengers, including in-flight entertainment, complimentary meals and beverages on longer flights, and a frequent flier program called ConnectMiles. It offers economy and business cabins with different fare classes available for both cabins. Economy cabin fare classes include Economy Basic, Economy Classic and Economic Full, while business fare classes include Business Promo and Business Full.
The airline is also a member of the Star Alliance, one of the world’s largest airline alliances. This partnership allows passengers to benefit from seamless connections, expanded route options and access to global loyalty programs.
Copa Airlines operates a modern fleet primarily consisting of over 97 Boeing aircraft, including the Boeing 737 Next-Generation and Boeing 737 MAX models. According to Planespotters.net, the average age of Copa Airlines fleet is 9.5 years.
Copa Airlines Overall Quality Rating
Skytrax, the international air transport rating organization, gave Copa Airlines a rating of three stars out of five for the quality of its airport, service and staff (both cabin and ground) and onboard product. The onboard product rated includes seats, amenities, food & beverages, IFE, cleanliness and other necessary factors. Skytrax gave Copa Airlines an overall rating of three stars, indicating fair or average quality of staff service standards and product standards for both its business and economy classes.
Skytrax provided a further breakdown of their rating for both Copa Airlines’ business and economy classes. Factors such as service, product, cleanliness, comfort and other applicable categories were rated out of five stars throughout its Airport Services at Panama Tocumen, business class lounge called Copa Club, onboard product within short haul flights and service within short haul flights for its business class. These factors were also rated out of five stars throughout its Airport Services at Panama Tocumen Airport, onboard product within short haul flights and service within short haul flights for its economy class.
The airline’s business class was given a peak score of four stars for several ratings of its Copa Club lounge and its short haul onboard product. These good quality ratings were awarded to factors related to exclusivity, comfortability and cleanliness of the Copa Club, as well as seat comfort and wifi for its short haul flights. Other factors of the business class like staff service, onboard cleanliness, food, entertainment, safety information and more earned three stars.
Copa Airlines’s economy class only received a four star rating in two categories of its short haul onboard product. The higher rating was awarded to its inflight entertainment and its wifi service. Every other category for Copa Airlines economy class was given a rating of three stars, with the lowest rating of only two stars for baggage delivery times at Panama Tocumen Airport. According to Skytrax rating system, this means the airline’s baggage delivery times do not meet the quality standards of a full-service carrier.
Is Copa Airlines Safe?
In terms of safety, Copa Airlines is consistently known for its good record. AirlineRatings.com gave Copa Airlines a score of seven out of seven stars for safety. This rating was based on factors such as number of fatal crashes in the past five years, serious pilot-related incidents, compliance with international COVID-19 standards and the airlines and its country of origin success in passing all necessary safety audits.
Copa Airlines complies with international safety regulations set forth by organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Copa Airlines Forced to Ground 21 of Its Boeing Max 9s
Copa Airlines grounded 21 of its Boeing 737 MAX 9s aircraft after The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called for the grounding of certain Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory on Jan. 6 of 2024. This order was in response to an incident of a mid-flight blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight. Boeing has been under scrutiny for manufacturing issues and safety standards for years now, News Nation reported. This includes the two fatal crashes; one occurring in Indonesia in October of 2018 and another in Ethiopia in March of 2019.
An update released on March 4 on the January Boeing MAX 9 groundings stated the FAA “found multiple instances where [Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems] allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.” The Administration has halted the production of new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft as a result.
Copa Airlines received FAA approval and returned its grounded MAX 9s in service on Jan. 29. The airline was forced to cancel 20% of its daily flights in January following the MAX 9 groundings. This affected almost 1,800 passengers. Previous canceled flights were reinstated following the MAX 9s return to service.