Copa Airlines has announced that from 2018 it will transfer the servicing of its aircraft to the new 10 thousand square meter construction hangar is to be constructed in Tocumen.
The construction process, which requires an investment of $15 million, started a few days ago and will be completed in 2018.The airline plans to transfer all aircraft maintenance operation from the second half of 2018.
With a feasibility study which could be ready in early 2016, Tocumen SA will decide whether it would be feasible or not to transfer the Marcos Gelabert Airport to installations at Panama Pacifico.
After talk about the possibility of moving the operations at Marcos Gelabert Airport to the Panamá Pacífico Terminal, Tocumen SA has announced that it has hired the company Sociedad Aeropuertos de París (ADP), to carry out a study and determine whether it would be feasible to make the change.
The second terminal under construction will not be enough to meet projected demand by 2020, therefore a third airport expansion is being considered.
The authorities at Tocumen SA have projected that by 2020 the average annual number of passengers who transit through the international airport in Panama City will amount to 20 million and the second terminal, in which they are investing $800 million, will exceed its capacity in 2022.
Authorities at the International Airport in Panama are evaluating raising tariffs for services offered at the terminal in order to cover the cost of the current expansion and future projects.
Between 2009 and 2012 there were only two upward adjustments in rates for airport services, one on the departure tax, and another on charge paid by airlines for each per passenger.
In the first seven months of the year 4,881,985 passengers transited through the international terminal in Panama, almost 10% more than in the same period in 2013.
From a statement issued by Tocumen International Airport:
During the first seven months of 2014, Tocumen International Airport which was recently given an award by the World Travel Awards, recorded an overall rate of 4, 881.985 passengers, compared with 4,454.529 users who used the Panamanian terminal in the same period in 2013, representing an increase of 9.6%, stated a report provided by the Department of Statistics.