Copa Airlines Colombia

Founding as AeroRepública

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Fleet

As of November 2016 the Copa Airlines Colombia fleet consists of the following aircraft:

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. Copa Airlines Colombia discontinued the MileagePlus program and replaced it with its own frequent flyer program, ConnectMiles.

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