Copa Holdings has announced that Copa Airlines (CM, Panamá City Tocumen International) is expected to end the year with a fleet of 112 aircraft, representing three fewer deliveries than expected in the first quarter of the year.
In the company’s second quarter, Copa CFO José Montero said in a conference call with investors that Boeing had recently informed them of further delays in deliveries for 2024. “We expect to receive only two more B737-8s later this year, bringing our fleet to a total of 112 aircraft.” He went on to say that Copa expects to acquire another 15 B737 MAXs, all -8s, in 2025.
Montero said Copa Holdings had reached an agreement with Boeing to compensate for the delivery delays and the grounding of the B737-9 in early 2024. The reason for this was the Alaska Airlines incident in January, in which a jammed emergency exit door in the cabin came loose mid-flight, causing an explosive decompression and prompting the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to order immediate inspections.
Copa Airlines will end 2024 with a fleet of 32 B737-9s, three B737-8s (the first recently entered commercial service), 67 B737-800s, nine B737-700s and one B737-800 (BCF). Next year, it plans to add 15 MAX 8s and retire two B737-700s, bringing the total number of aircraft to 125.
Pedro Heilbron, CEO, said the company is growing according to the needs within its network. By 2025, management is confident it will have the flexibility to make adjustments if necessary. “We can park the 700s and retire the engines, or we can keep them flying, also depending on Boeing deliveries,” he said.
The fleet module from ch-aviation shows that Copa Airlines’ fleet currently comprises 110 aircraft. 21 aircraft are on order – twenty B737-8s and one B737-10. Copa’s low-cost subsidiary Wingo (Colombia) operates nine of its own B737-800s.
