SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego International Airport is expanding its global footprint with a new nonstop flight to Panama City, making travel to Central and South America more accessible for local residents.
San Diegans previously had to travel to Miami, Houston or Charlotte just to reach South America. Now, Copa Airlines is launching its first-ever nonstop flight to Panama City.
"Now with a very convenient connection in Panama from one gate to the other, they can very easily go visit Central and South America," said David Defossey, regional sales manager for Copa Airlines.
The new service will connect travelers to Panama and beyond, Defossey said.
"We're going to be connecting customers to Panama, but also connecting them to over 50 destinations in Central, South America and the Caribbean," Defossey said.
Travelers will have the option to do a "stopover" at no additional cost beyond what they'd pay to stay a few nights.
"You can stay in Panama but also continue on to a different destination up to a week later, so it's really two vacations in one," Defossey said.
This addition comes a month after KLM launched a new nonstop flight to Europe, creating significant growth opportunities for San Diego's tourism industry.
"Only 10% of our business is international travel. So this will allow us to grow our international travel demand to San Diego," said Daniel Kuperschmid, president and CEO of the San Diego Tourism Authority.
Kuperschmid noted that one in eight jobs in the city are tourism-related.
"In addition to that, we generate $400 million in tourism occupancy tax, so that helps pave roads, provide police and fire and all those things that hit the general fund," Kuperschmid said.
Tourism saves locals around $1,000 in taxes per year, according to Kuperschmid, who hopes to see more nonstop flights added to the San Diego International Airport.
Copa Airlines' first continuous flight to Panama departed Wednesday night.
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