In Panama, there are only two players that offer air connections between the capital city and the rest of the country: Air Panama and Copa Airlines.

Air Panama is the only one that has air connections to Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí and the Guna Yala archipelago, while Copa Airlines only operates the Tocumen-David route.

The little local offer does not match the success that the country has had as a center of international connections, although little by little new actors may appear, with new frequencies.

From Panama, a person can travel directly to 89 destinations worldwide, without counting flights with stopovers, such as the one offered by AirChina, but which was suspended due to the appearance of the respiratory virus.

The size of the domestic market and the territorial extension limit domestic operations, if there are no foreign tourists.

Like international flights, local connections have been suspended since March 23 and the tentative date to resume operations in both cases is from July 23; this, of course, if the number of positive cases with the Covid-19 allows it.

The director of the Civil Aeronautical Authority (AAC), Gustavo Pérez, commented that on Monday, July 6, personnel from the Ministry of Health will join the air reopening commission that the ministry has out in place.

This commission discusses the health protocols that flights in the country must comply with.

Once the Minsa approves the sanitary measures to be implemented at airports nationwide, the possibility of starting with local flights will be studied, said Pérez.

The official said that every 15 days they hold meetings with the regional office of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to analyze the implementation and updating of the protocols that passengers must comply with when entering air terminals and during their stay within of the planes.

Eduardo Stagg, general manager of Air Panama, commented that the company is ready to restart operations, but it all depends on the mobility measures applied by the health authorities.

Passenger demand will set the pace for local aviation to recover, but Stagg estimates that once domestic connections are authorized, the company would return with 50% of its capacity.

Last year, the company flew more than 250,000 people, some 50,000 less than the previous year, after the airline stopped operating some commercial flights to Colombia, given the drop in profitability of these routes.

IATA has repeatedly asked the Panamanian Government to take actions to alleviate the burden faced by airlines that operate in the country or that have regular flights to the country.

It is estimated that in the first half of the year the Panamanian airline industry lost some 820 million dollars.

In this sense, Stagg reported that the AAC will be flexible with the company in relation to the payment of aeronautical taxes, such as the parking of aircraft, which as of July 23 will add 4 months on the ground.

In accordance with the economic opening program set by the Government, hotels, restaurants and air terminals may open when block four is enabled, but with the upturn in positive cases of Covid-19, registered in recent weeks, it has been delaying the commissioning of block 3.

However, President Laurentino Cortizo has said that there may be variations in the opening schedules of each block, considering the level of risk of contagion in each activity, biosecurity measures and the regions in which the companies operate, among other indicators.

The director of AAC pointed out that to reactivate internal flights, they will need the support from local governments, to obtain the traceability of people, and to comply with biosecurity measures.

If a passenger shows symptoms, they cannot complete their trip, and to do so, we need local governments to support us with security protocols, he said.

For Xavier Sáez-Llorens, an infectologist and scientific researcher, it is important that the personnel who work at airports and airlines are trained to apply the protocols to prevent Covid-19 and that they know how to act if there is a suspicious case.

During a virtual discussion with AAC officials, Sáez-Llorens commented that it is important to apply all the recommendations that have been established by IATA, ICAO and other organizations, because it is not sufficient to depend on a single measure, such as thermal cameras, because there might be cases where people take medicine to lower body temperature.

Since the suspension of commercial flights, the AAC has only authorized humanitarian operations for the transfer of food, medicine and people between the Marcos A. Gelabert airport (Albrook) and the provinces of Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí, and the archipelago of Las Perlas .

These flights were operated by members of the Panamanian Aviation Association (APA), who have carried out 11 humanitarian operations, with a total of 60 flight hours.

In total, the 12 aircraft that the APA has made available to the AAC have carried 24,646 pounds of food and belongings and 35 people, including the transfer of two Panamanians who were stranded in Miami, Florida.

'Baby steps'

The arrival of the coronavirus not only caused a forced landing of commercial aviation in the country; It has also disrupted new projects that seek to improve air connectivity between national airports.

Jaime Fábrega, operations and maintenance manager of the airline that will operate with the Aeroperlas brand, commented that despite the pandemic, they have advanced legal procedures to start the operation, which will offer daily flights to Pedasí, in the province of Los Santos, and the island of Contadora, in the Las Perlas archipelago.

He indicated that the entire process has been slower, but commented that they have managed to advance in the operations manuals that must be delivered to the AAC.

For the moment, Fábrega and Alonso Arias de la Guardia, who is managing the company, are continuing with the plan to acquire three Islander model aircraft, with capacity for nine passengers and two crew members.

Unlike other projects that want to establish local flights, we do not maintain bank debt, because we have not bought the planes, since we are waiting for the best time to make the transaction, since international aviation is affected and will continue to be so for many months, which will have an impact on the price of the planes, commented Fábrega.