The Real Reason Why This Airline Doesn't Want Any Widebodies In Its Fleet

Copa Airlines, based in Panama, operates a wide network across the Americas yet has no widebody aircraft in its fleet. In its 2025 financial year, the Star Alliance member reported a 22.6% operating margin and, outside the pandemic years, consistently top-tier profit performance for almost two decades. The carrier’s Tocumen hub near Panama City gives it a geographic advantage for connections across North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean, with most routes within the Boeing 737 family range. The 737 MAX has improved economics for longer services like Panama City–San Francisco (SFO) and Panama City–Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE), enabling Copa to add thinner destinations with narrowbodies rather than fundamentally changing its business model.