New Flight Will Ease Access to the Americas

Manuel Heredia

The flight from Belize to Panama is designed to provide connectivity to principal cities in Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile and a list of others.  According to Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia, the aim is to also establish access to the European markets through South America.

Manuel Heredia, Minister of Tourism

“Well today is a very historic occasion for Belize.  It is something that we have been working for almost three years and finally it is about to be materialized.  First of all I must say that we have a very effective ADC, which is the Airline Development Committee that has been lobbying together with partners in the industry.  At times I have to be around also but I must give praise to this committee because they have been, ever since I took the mantles of the Ministry of Tourism eight years ago, this committee has been there working daily, not only to attract new airlines but also to work along with the existing airlines to other destinations or lobbying for special prices.  So today is a special occasion because it is something that I had envisioned many, many years ago that we wanted to have this South American connection, particularly Copa which is Panama, the hub of the South American and Latin American countries.  South America has a very good potential market.  Places like Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, in particular Argentina, the number of Argentines that travel abroad is almost as much as the number of tourists that arrive in Argentina.  Belize is very fortunate that we receive far more tourists than [the number of] Belizeans traveling abroad.  So this particular market will also give us connectivity to the European markets and we are hoping that as we progress we will be sitting with Copa to see how we can connect this European, South American and Latin American markets so that they may be able to arrive in Belize on the same day.  Likewise, in the Caribbean a lot of those coming to Belize from the Caribbean had to go through Miami, that will no longer be the case.  They will be able to go from Panama directly to Belize and arrive the same day to their destination.”

Copa Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance, the world’s largest global airline alliance.  In a statement released from Panama earlier, Chief Executive Officer Pedro Heilbron said, “The connectivity will open enormous opportunities for tourism and commercial development for this interesting Caribbean country, as well as allowing for tourists from the same region to have the opportunity to enjoy all the tourism and commercial strengths Belize has to offer.”