In the aviation world airlines often decide to form an alliance as a way of enhancing the efficiency and value provided to travelers. For the airlines, it can lead to reduced operational costs, with the partner airlines working together to feed each other passengers.

The advantages of airline alliances are clear:

• Passengers benefit from an extended network when two (or more) airlines share the same flight. It gets listed in mutual reservation systems making for easier booking.
• It gets listed in mutual reservation systems making for easier booking.
• Connecting flights are more efficient.
• Easier flight check-in and often reduced flight times are two more traveler perks.
• As for the airlines, alliances allow airlines to get the benefits of a larger route network for their customers while remaining separate entities.

Connecting the Americas – Tropic Air Copa Alliance

June 15, 2018, was a big day for Tropic Air. The official announcement was made regarding a Tropic Air Copa Airlines Alliance. This is the birth of a needed and natural evolution to building Belize’s global connectivity. Both airlines saw that it was necessary to make it more convenient for Latin American travelers to get to their final destination in Belize after arrival at Philip Goldson International Airport.

Beginning immediately you will be able to book your entire trip all the way from Panama to your final Tropic Air destination in Belize. Copa uses travel booking sites such as Tripadvisor (which tickets through OneTravel or CheapOair) Priceline or Yatra. Copa is revamping their website so will implement new destinations once it’s finalized.

Not only will it be more convenient for the people traveling from Panama, it will also make it easier to visit Belize from a smaller city in Central or South America; places like Belo Horizonte, Brazil which until now was too difficult to do.

About Copa Airlines

Copa has been in operation for almost 71 years and utilizes the most important hub in Latin America – Panama. Out of this hub, the airline operates more international flights than Sao Paulo or Mexico City, which both have a much bigger population density than Panama City.

Currently, Copa has direct flights to 74 destinations (soon to be 77). For the past 5 years, Copa has been the most on-time airline in Latin America. Over the same time period, they have had the number 2 and 4 positions globally.

In general, there have been many changes in the airline industry’s service over the past years but Copa still offers a free checked bag, and free food and drinks inflight. Yes, even in economy you can still get a free scotch! 😀

Copa is also known for holding one of the best on-time performance rates in the industry. They also have a strong following and the awards to back it up, in 2017 Copa received the award for Leading Airline in Mexico and Central America at the World Travel Awards. Three Skytrax 2016 awards: Best Airline in Central America and the Caribbean, Best Airline Staff Service in Central America and the Caribbean, and Best Regional Airline in Central America and the Caribbean. Copa is a member of Star Alliance, which offers passengers more than 18,450 daily flights to 1,300 airports in 190 countries.

About Tropic Air

Known as Belize’s favorite airline with nearly 40 years of service, Tropic Air has over 15 planes flying 200 daily scheduled flights to 15 destinations in Belize, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Tropic Air now employs over 350 team members and will carry over 300,000 passengers and 425,000 items of freight system-wide this year.

Recently Tropic successfully completed IATA’s Industry Standard Safety Audit for the third time, after joining the program in 2015. In September, Tropic was also admitted as a member of the Latin American Airlines Association (ALTA), after meeting its professional standards requirements.

A Few Pictures and Some Travel Tips

• When searching flights always clear your computer’s cookies and cache regularly. Not doing so may result in you being shown a higher fare because the site recognizes you have been there and are likely ready to buy.
• Back up your important information digitally and take a physical copy as well. Have your passport, visa, health, credit and debit cards, driver’s license, birth certificate, and any important phone numbers ready to go in case of an emergency.
• If you are one who gets a little woozy when flying, sipping a mix of half club soda half ginger ale is a great way to help relieve inflight motion sickness.
• Better to have an extra pen to share than not enough and leave yourself looking to your neighbor for ink.
• Always have a secret cash stash. Sometimes you still run into places where businesses might not take plastic money. It’s also handy If you lose your wallet, or if the ATMs run out of money or have trouble reading a foreign card.

Photos above and below were both taken at the press conference.

In case you needed a reminder of why it is time to start planning your next Belize Vacation 😀

“The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.” Alain de Botton.

The mindset in which we travel is also related to how we are traveling and the experiences provided by our carrier of choice. Make smart travel choices and you will have a much more pleasurable mindset when you reach your final destination.