According to the Secretary of Jalisco Tourism, Aurelio Lopez Rocha, Copa Airlines, named "Mexico & Central America's Leading Airline" in the 2011 World Travel Awards, will fly a direct route to Puerto Vallarta, with a defined start date to be announced later this year.

The Panama City based airline, which currently offers direct flights to Mexico City and Guadalajara, will soon start flying directly to Puerto Vallarta on new planes that have a seating capacity of 100 passengers.

López Rocha reported that Copa Airlines is in the process of receiving a significant number of aircraft already on order, but the delivery of the planes will be one by one, hence the uncertainty of the absolute date service to Puerto Vallarta will begin.

In 2012, Copa Airlines announced flights to five new destinations: Las Vegas, United States; Recife, Brazil; Willemstad, Curaçao; Liberia, Costa Rica; and Iquitos, Peru. Copa is also expected to increase frequency to several destinations. The company made an interline agreement with Air Panama (Panama's second-largest airline) which consists of the linkage of all tourist destinations in Panama with those in Latin America. The agreement became effective on June 1, when Air Panama began flights from Tocumen Airport to Isla Colón, Bocas del Toro.