Panama City growing rapidly

Panama City Tocumen (PTY) recently completed construction of its North Pier, a 21,000 sq. m. passenger terminal, which is expected be fully operational by April. The North Pier will increase the airport’s capacity from 6 to 9 million passengers per year.

State-owned management company Tocumen said Colombia-based consortium Aerotocumen built the $100 million North Pier, which includes 12 gates, up to 27 new spaces for concessions, ramp and taxi-way upgrades, as well as providing new access to the cargo terminal.

The next phase of construction will be a $750 million South Pier expansion project that will add 30 new gates. The airport expects to open international bidding for the work by the end of the year.

Tocumen aims to consolidate PTY’s position as the leading international airport in Central America, a hub of choice for inter-American services linking Central, North, South American and Caribbean destinations. Airlines operating at PTY provide service to 59 destinations in 24 countries.

PTY handled 884,616 boarding passengers between January and July 2011, with 985,558 deplaning passengers and 1,438,011 in transit. PTY is Copa Airlines’ main hub.