Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines, calculated that it will take at least three years for the commercial and passenger aviation industry to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Aviation recovery will take three years, until 2023," says Heilbron, in a virtual forum.

He calculated that between April and December 2020, Copa Airlines, will operate with 19% of its available seating capacity, and in 2021, less than 41%.

The impact would be considerable, taking into account that the airline industry and tourism contribute 14% of the gross domestic product of the economy of Panama, with a generation of 238,000 jobs.

"A vast majority of airlines are not going to survive unless they have some state funding or subsidy," Heilbron explained. “Copa is not going to ask for subsidy, nor state financing. We are going to maintain our own mechanisms.”

He also stressed that air connectivity is part of Panama's competitive advantages to host multinational companies because they serve the entire region and depend on air connectivity and strength, says Heilbron.

Regarding virus prevention protocols, once passenger transport is reactivated, he emphasized that there must be coordination between countries, because otherwise it will be chaos.

"Copa Airlines has a biosecurity committee and disaster recovery specialists, in addition to medical personnel and a medical committee, with whom the protocol for the first flight has been being planned", he said.

Panama prohibited commercial and passenger flights until June 22. Copa has not operated since May 23, except for humanitarian or medical supplies transport flights. For now, the airline does not have a date to resume operations, although Heilbron calculates that if Panama lifts its ban on June 22, Copa could fly with 10% of its fleet in July and, at the end of the year with 40%. That means that out of a fleet of 100 aircraft, they would operate with 40 or less.

"The projections change for the worse, there is still a lot of uncertainty about what the future will be like. What we know is that we will be operating below what we were", he said.

COLLABORATORS

Regarding the current situation of the collaborators of Copa Holding – which operates the airlines Copa Airlines and Wingo – Heilbrom informed that most of the personnel are in temporary suspension of contracts, and that they will be reinstated as required.

He specified that in Copa has over 7,000 employees, more than 1,200 pilots, and that these numbers are going to have to be adjusted if the company does not have income or the same operating capacity.

"We cannot survive as a company managing ourselves with our resources without state support, but we do not want it, and that is why we have to adjust," he said.

Likewise, he explained that 800 people took advantage of voluntary retirement plans, and that another number of collaborators applied for a leave of two to six months, without pay. Other reductions are lacking that will be implemented according to the situation of the company and the country, which he did not specify.

"98% of the non-unionized people took up this program for the month of May, to reduce the working day."