Copa Airlines confident in business model following Avianca-Gol deal

Copa Airlines CEO Pedro Heilbron does not think the carrier needs to do anything differently following the announcement that Avianca and Gol plan to consolidate under a single holding company. “I won’t talk about whether we have to react or not,” Heilbron said during Copa’s Q1 earnings call on May 12. “If we choose to focus on our business model, I think we will be very successful doing it that way.” His comments come a day after Avianca and Gol announced they would merge under the new UK-based Abra Group. The merger is akin to the holding company approach to consolidation at European airlines, like the British Airways-Iberia merger that created International Airlines Group in 2011, with each airline continuing to operate independently under its own brand. Abra will also own Viva Air, and a minority stake in Sky Airline. Heilbron acknowledged that the creation of Abra does create something of a “spider web” of partnerships among Latin American airlines. Copa and Avianca are both members of the Star Alliance, and prior to the pandemic committed to forming an immunized joint venture with United Airlines covering flights to the US Copa has a separate codeshare agreement with Gol that has been in place since 2015. The creation of Abra will likely add “another twist” to Copa’s agreement to form a joint venture with Avianca and United, Heilbron said. “It’s hard for us to see right now what’s going to be the decision of [Abra] or the other partners. It’s up in the air right now but it’s still there.”<br/>