AvNews June10 : Page 3
Heard In The First Class Lounge magazine has an interview by Jeff Kriendler with the “model airline’s” CEO, Pedro Heilbron. The title of the article is “Copa of Panama, A Latin leader links the Americas” and covers the airline’s history since it was founded in 1947 by a group Panamanian investors and Pan American Airways. The article covers the airline’s listing of its shares on the New York Stock exchange in December 2005. The airline has a string of fourteen consecutive profitable quarters since then, and its stellar net income of $240 million in 2009 made it among the worlds most profitable. The interview with Pedro Heilbron is a “must read” if you are at all interested in what it takes to be profitable and a member of our list of four “model airlines” in the region. The article goes in depth to cover the airline’s successful business model and Pedro Heilbron’s personal approach to managing and leading the airline to its incredible success as one of the top airlines in the Americas, and the world for that matter. If you are not a subscriber, we recommend that you contact the Creative Director, Robert Christensen for a free trial subscription, at Robert@airliners.tv Congratulations, Pedro and the entire team at the airline. Viva Copa. M Latin America business: Panama best Is the headline in an article in the Latin Business Chronicle by its staff, which leads with the statement: “Panama has replaced Chile as the Latin American country with the best business climate, according to the fifth annual Latin Business Index from LatinBusinessChronicle.” Panama, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic improve their business climate, while Venezuela worsens. The index of 19 countries is the broadest measure of business climate. Rather than looking at the size of GDP or GDP per capita, the index looks at five key categories and 27 subcategories to measure the recent, current and future business environment in each of the 19 countries in the region. Panama is the top star, improving its score to 17.628 to join the group of top five countries in corporate environment (replacing El Salvador as the fifth-best nation) and technology level (replacing Peru as the fourth best). In the category globalization and competitiveness, Panama replaced Costa Rica as the top country (from being second-best a year ago). Panama is now the only country that is among the top five in all five main categories. By comparison, Chile is four, Uruguay three, while Peru, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic are two each. Panama is the most globalized country in Latin America. For the complete article, go to www.latinbusinesschronicle.com Panama is where the action is. Aeromexico increasing frequencies to the United States The Mexican legacy airline is adding flights to a number of destinations in the United States. It will operate a total ust read: Airliners cover story on Copa Airlines The March/April issue of Airliners of 19 weekly-compared to 14 currently-between Mexico City and New York JFK. It is also planning to add frequencies between Mexico City and Houston and Las Vegas, as well as between Monterrey and Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It also announced an increase of two weekly flights between Mexico and Lima as of July 7, bringing its total weekly flights to nine. Way to go! TAM joins Star Alliance Jaan Albecht, president of the Star Alliance, was in Brazil recently with a group of Alliance member airlines to welcome TAM as the new and first South American airline member of the alliance. During the ceremony at the Congonhas airport, he welcomed TAM and its’ CEO, Libano Barroso, and acknowledged the airline’s founder, Rolim Amaro, who was known for his passion for flying. He commented that safety was a major priority, as it is with all 27 Star member airlines. He also stated that Latin America is on every airline’s screen. He sees Latin America as one of the most important markets and is determined to seek other airlines in the region to join the alliance. He also stated: “With TAM onboard we have won a major airline in the region, which is an important airline market and a major and growing economy.” He also mentioned that Star is in conversations with a number of leading Latin American airlines to join the alliance and is optimistic that they will bring several new members onboard this year. Congratulations Libano and Jaan. Definitely the way to go. Central America and the EU reach a free trade agreement During the EU/LATAM-Caribbean leaders’ summit in Madrid it was announced that the 27-nation EU and Central American nations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama have reached an agreement on the first ever free trade agreement between the two regions. Trade ministers of Central America and the EU express their full satisfaction with the outcome, which “will result in an ambitious, comprehensive and balanced trade pillar of the Association Agreement”. It is the first ever deal of its kind between the 27-nation bloc and Central America. The deal follows agreement between the EU and the four-nation South American trading bloc, Mercosur, to resume talks aimed at reaching a free trade agreement, despite opposition from a number of European nations. Way to go! Iberia to add Madrid-Cordoba flight on October 1st. The Spanish legacy airline has announced it plans to add the first nonstop flight between Europe and a domestic destination in Argentina. The new service will be launched on October 1st. The three-time weekly nonstop will provide connections to and from 38 European destinations served by the airline. The Europeans are re-discovering South America. (Continued on page 10) LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN June 2010 Volume 20 Number 6 3 “Panama has replaced Chile as the Latin American country with the best business climate, according to the fifth annual Latin Business Index from Latin Business Chronicle.”
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