Lufthansa has announced today that it will begin to codeshare flights with Copa Airlines. This announcement coincides with the beginning of Lufthansa’s service to Panama City, Panama which is scheduled to begin on March 2, 2016.
This codeshare agreement will allow Lufthansa’s passengers to book their travels to South America more efficiently. It also allows the 2 airlines involved to book passengers on the same plane using their respective flight numbers.
According to LH, plans call for a wide-reaching codeshare agreement that will cover many of Copa’s flights within Latin and South America. However, the initial codeshare will only cover 2 of Copa’s routes: Panama City – David, and Panama City – San Jose, Costa Rica. Expansion of the codeshare will take place throughout Summer 2016.
ABOUT LUFTHANSA’s NEW SERVICE TO PANAMA CITY (Excerpt from previous post announcing the new route):
This expansion plays well into LH’s goal of a deeper presence in the Americas, especially Central and South. With the addition of ‘PTY’, Lufthansa will be able to leverage the ‘route map’ that fellow Star Alliance member COPA has in the region. With COPA’s 50 destinations, LH has opened a significant new opportunity for passengers.
The route will be flown by a 3 class A340-300 aircraft (Business / Premium Economy / Economy) that can carry upwards of 298 passengers. The aircraft will have FlyNet internet connectivity.
The flight details:
LH 484 will depart Frankfurt on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday at 10:15a (Local FRA time) and arrive in Panama City (PTY) at 4:40p (Local PTY time). The flight is scheduled for 12 hours 25 minutes.
LH 485 will depart Panama City at 6:45p (Local Time) and arrive in Frankfurt at 11:35a the following morning.
Makes sense as they’re already alliance partners, and the FRA-PTY route will have plenty of potential for connecting traffic onward to other destinations in Central America and the Caribbean, which is popular with German tourists.