Air Panamá Internacional
Encyclopedia
Air Panamá Internacional, also known as Air Panama International or just Air Panama, was a state owned airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 from Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

 that served as the flag carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...

 of the country between 1968 and 1989. From its hub
Airline hub
An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...

 at Tocumen International Airport
Tocumen International Airport
Tocumen International Airport is an international airport located from Panama City, Panama. In 2006, it underwent a major expansion and renovation program in order to modernize and improve its facilities...

 in Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...

, scheduled passenger flights to a number of destinations in the Americas was offered.

History

Air Panamá Internacional was founded in 1968 as a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 between the government of Panama (67 percent) and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 airline Iberia (33 percent). When Iberia pulled out approximately ten years later, the airline became fully state-owned.

During the 1980s, when Panama was ruled by military dictator Manuel Noriega
Manuel Noriega
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno is a Panamanian politician and soldier. He was military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989.The 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States removed him from power; he was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States. Noriega was tried on...

, the route network and aircraft fleet of Air Panamá Internacional went into a decline because of the worsened financial and economical situation of the company, which led to Copa Airlines
Copa Airlines
Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A., operating as Copa Airlines ', is an airline based in Panama City, Panama, and serves as Panama's flag carrier...

 emerging as largest airline of the country. All flight operations with Air Panamá Internacional ceased in December 1989 over the United States invasion of Panama
United States invasion of Panama
The United States Invasion of Panama, code-named Operation Just Cause, was the invasion of Panama by the United States in December 1989. It occurred during the administration of U.S. President George H. W...

. The only aircraft of the airline at that time, a Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...

, was damaged beyond repair in fighting actions. In January 1990, Air Panamá Internacional declared bankruptcy.

An attempt by the government of Panama to relaunch the airline in 1993 as Panama Air International failed. In 2005, Turismo Aéreo
Air Panama
Air Panama is an airline based in Panama City, Panama, which offers scheduled and chartered passenger flights out of its hub at Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport, mostly on domestic routes with a low passenger volume...

 acquired the Air Panama branding and adopted that name.

Fleet

Over the years, Air Panamá Internacional operated the following aircraft types:
  • Boeing 707
    Boeing 707
    The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...

  • Boeing 720
    Boeing 720
    The Boeing 720 is a four-engine narrow-body short- to medium-range passenger jet airliner. Developed by Boeing in the late 1950s from the Boeing 707, the 720 has a shorter fuselage and less range...

  • Boeing 727
    Boeing 727
    The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...

  • Boeing 757-200
  • Douglas DC-8
    Douglas DC-8
    The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...

  • Douglas DC-9
  • McDonnell Douglas DC-10
    McDonnell Douglas DC-10
    The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a...


Destinations

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Air Panamá Internacional offered scheduled flights to the following destinations:
Colombia
  • Bogotá
    Bogotá
    Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

     - El Dorado International Airport
    El Dorado International Airport
    El Dorado International Airport is an international airport located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the largest Latin America airport in terms of cargo movements with 593,946 tons and the third in terms of passenger traffic, only behind São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport and Mexico City's...


Ecuador
  • Guayaquil
    Guayaquil
    Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...

     - Simón Bolívar International Airport
    José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport
    José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport is an airport serving Guayaquil, a city in the province of Guayas in Ecuador. The airport was named after José Joaquín de Olmedo, a notable Ecuadorian poet, first mayor of the city of Guayaquil and former president of Ecuador. It was formerly known as...


Guatemala
  • Guatemala City
    Guatemala City
    Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...

     - La Aurora International Airport
    La Aurora International Airport
    La Aurora International Airport serves Guatemala City, Guatemala. It is located south of Guatemala City's center and from Antigua. It is administered by the Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil....


Mexico
  • Mexico City
    Mexico City
    Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

     - Mexico City International Airport
    Mexico City International Airport
    Benito Juárez International Airport , in Venustiano Carranza, one of the sixteen boroughs into which Mexico's Federal District is divided, is a commercial airport that serves Mexico City, the capital of Mexico...


Panama
  • Tocumen International Airport
    Tocumen International Airport
    Tocumen International Airport is an international airport located from Panama City, Panama. In 2006, it underwent a major expansion and renovation program in order to modernize and improve its facilities...

     (hub)

Peru
  • Lima
    Lima
    Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

     - Jorge Chávez International Airport
    Jorge Chávez International Airport
    Jorge Chávez International Airport , known as Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez in Spanish, is Peru's main international and domestic airport. It is located in Callao, 11 kilometers from the Historic Centre of Lima and 17 km from Miraflores. Callao is the port city now fully...


United States
  • Miami - Miami International Airport
    Miami International Airport
    Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the South Florida area...

  • New York
    New York City
    New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

     - John F. Kennedy International Airport
    John F. Kennedy International Airport
    John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...


Venezuela
  • Caracas
    Caracas
    Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

     - Simón Bolívar International Airport
    Simón Bolívar International Airport (Venezuela)
    Simón Bolívar International Airport of Maiquetia is an international airport located in Maiquetía, Venezuela, about 13 miles from downtown Caracas....

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