Copa Holdings is planning to upgauge the fleet of its Colombian low-cost subsidiary Wingo (Colombia) (Bogotá) from B737-700s to B737-800s, Copa Airlines (CM, Panamá City Tocumen International) CEO Pedro Heilbron said during the quarterly earnings call.
"We always knew the -800 was the right aircraft for Wingo. It has the right seat capacity and more importantly, it has the right unit costs for an airline like Wingo. We started with the -700s for two reasons, one that it would reduce the risk, the downside risk of a startup and it did... And the second reason we started with the -700 because we knew we could switch fleets at any time because we have enough -800s," Heilbron said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Wingo currently operates four -700s operated by Copa's local unit, Copa Airlines Colombia (P5, Bogotá).
Heilbron told ch-aviation in June 2018 that Wingo would keep operating only a single type of aircraft and was not scheduled to take any of the B737 MAX ordered by Copa Holdings.
The low-cost unit of the group is also in the process of setting up a Panamanian subsidiary.
"It is going to be [based] in Balboa/Panama Pacifico where Wingo has all of its operations and it's actually going to take registering a new airline in Panama. So it can operate in and out of Panama Pacifico with its own route rights," Heilbron explained.
The group expects that the fifth aircraft to be transferred to Wingo, a B737-800, will be the first one based out of Panama.
The new Panamanian Wingo will focus on serving point-to-point markets. Heilbron did not provide any specifics about the network or the timeline of the launch.
The LCC currently operates to Balboa from Bogotá, Medellín José Maria Córdova, Cartagena Rafael Núñez International, and Cali in Colombia. It is the only airline which operates scheduled services out of Balboa. Copa itself has its main hub at Panamá City Tocumen International.
