Raleigh-Durham International Airport welcomed a 160-seat Boeing 737 with blue tail fins on Friday, bearing the name of an airline that may be new to some Triangle residents: Copa Airlines.
Thanks to RDU’s new airline, customers can now fly directly to Panama City, the airport’s first nonstop flight to Latin America. Friday’s inaugural flight will be the airport’s 10th international destination, a number that has doubled since 2019.
Copa reaches 85 destinations in 32 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, seventy of which are now accessible from Raleigh.
RDU is the airline’s 16th destination in the United States, but the Triangle hasn’t always been on Copa’s radar.
Copa CEO Pedro Heilbron told The News & Observer that it was RDU officials who first proposed the idea to the airline. When they realized that 275 people flew between RDU and Central and South America every day, they began looking for an airline that could offer nonstop flights to those customers.
On Friday, that goal became a reality. Under two towering water arches in the customary cannon salute, the jet taxied to the terminal and officially landed at 2:22 p.m., about six minutes ahead of schedule. Cheers and shouts erupted from the crowd of guests and RDU employees watching from the tarmac as the pilot and copilot unfurled the Panamanian and American flags in the plane’s cockpit.
“Every day, nearly 2,200 travelers fly through RDU to and from destinations outside the United States, and more than 200 of them travel to Central and South America,” RDU President and CEO Michael Landguth told the crowd gathered at the gate on Friday.
“We have been in touch with the Latin American community in our region, which overwhelmingly supported the new route during the recruitment process,” he said
Record growth
The new nonstop service to Panama City is not the first international expansion this summer – nor will it be the last.
Earlier this month, on June 6, Lufthansa’s first nonstop flight between the Triangle and Frankfurt, Germany, landed in the Triangle. And on July 1, Aeromexico will begin daily flights between RDU and Mexico City’s Benito Juárez International Airport.
RDU estimates that the additional Frankfurt location will add $3.3 billion to the North Carolina economy over the next 25 years.
Thanks in part to growing international service, RDU saw record traffic last month. More than 1.4 million people flew through the airport in May, a new record for monthly traffic. Landguth expects passenger volume to increase as the airport adds new international destinations.
RDU was the fastest-growing major airport in the United States in 2023, with a rate of 22%. RDU was followed by San Francisco International Airport, Washington-Dulles International Airport, and Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, with growth rates of about 18%.
Landguth said RDU moved domestic airlines Breeze Airways and Sun Country Airlines from Terminal 2, the hub for all international flights, to Terminal 1 to accommodate increased traffic.
“We’re also starting to better manage the gates we have to make sure we can get the best utilization out of every available gate at any time of day,” he said. “We’re trying to make our operations more efficient while also moving some people into Terminal 1.”
Latin American connection
David DeFossey, who heads Copa’s commercial sales in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, said the new service bridges the Triangle and Latin America like never before.
“Today we take a tremendous step forward in strengthening our presence in the United States by connecting the vibrant Raleigh-Durham region, known for its academic brilliance, rich cultural life and groundbreaking innovations, with our dynamic Copa Airlines hub in Panama City, Panama,” said DeFossey.
Francis Lewis opened the celebration at Gate C17 with a performance. Dressed in a colorful dress and headdress from the province of Colon, she danced for the crowd of guests and travelers from Congo.
Lewis, originally from Panama and living in Raleigh, said she has been dancing for over 50 years.
Larissa McGrath also danced at the event, after comments from Landguth, DeFossey and RDU Authority Board Chairman Ellis Hankins. She wore Gala Pollera, the national costume of Panama, which originates from the central provinces of the country. Both performers’ dresses and headpieces were entirely handmade.
“Whenever you see our folklore represented outside the country, you will see this,” McGrath said.
Starting Friday, weekly departures are scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. DeFossey said Copa may expand the current schedule to a daily one.
With the Triangle’s growing Latino community and several universities with foreign students, DeFossey said Copa saw an opportunity to make visits from relatives and friends in Latin American countries more convenient.
He added that a free hot meal from Panama will be offered on all Copa flights, regardless of whether the flight is two or four hours long.
“Panama is proud to work with Copa and this is reflected in our performance,” he said.
At 4:20 p.m., Josue Andrade, his wife and three children from Wilkesboro left RDU on the nearly full Copa flight back to Panama City. They were on their way to Honduras but wanted to spend the night in Panama.
Andrade was also on the first nonstop flight from Baltimore to Panama City. He said the direct flight from Raleigh is more convenient for Triangle residents.
“It will be good for more tourists to travel to Panama instead of from here to Miami or from here to Houston or from here to Atlanta or from here to New York,” he said.
