In 70% of its routes, COPA has no competition. The Panamanian airline flies to destinations not covered by the major regional airlines such as TAM and LAN.
The company prefers to fly to destinations that are not too popular, where the passengers waiting to board are not many more than 50. And while the airline industry in general is suffering from the effects of the crisis and the balance sheets of the airlines are registering losses or marginal profits in the best case, COPA had operating margins of 17.4% in 2008.