TAMPA — Copa Airlines this month celebrated its second year offering direct flights to and from Tampa Bay and Panama City — a central hub that offers access to dozens of Central American and South American countries.
But unlike the other international flights out of Tampa International Airport like British Airways, Edelweiss and newcomer Lufthansa, Copa’s flight has had mixed results so far. And Tampa Bay continues to fall behind the state’s two larger metro areas, Miami and Orlando, when it comes to international travel.
Copa Airlines, which is a subsidiary of Copa Holdings, S.A., posted an average load factor, or the percentage of filled seats on airplanes, of 67 percent for its first full year in Tampa in 2014, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. In Orlando, Copa’s load factor average was 92.3 percent last year. In Miami it was 87.9 percent.
“I’m sure they’re losing money. Airlines have to be pretty close to 85 percent load factors just to break even anymore,” said Ken Qualls, CEO of Flight Management Solutions in Boca Raton, an aviation consulting firm. “That said, it’s not uncommon for airlines in a major arena to expect load factors to taper off after the two-year or three-year mark.”
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