Tocumen International Airport
Facts on PTY
Panama City's main airport isn't actually named after the capital — its official name, Tocumen International Airport, comes from Tocumen, the district on the city's eastern edge where it's located.
Tocumen opened on June 1, 1947, making it one of the older continuously operating major airports in Latin America; today it serves as the primary hub for Copa Airlines, linking dozens of destinations across the Americas.
By 2024, Tocumen was handling over 19.25 million passengers a year, reflecting Panama's rise as a major regional connecting hub between North and South America.
In 2003, Panama's government created Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, S.A. under Law No. 23 to manage the airport, part of a broader restructuring of the country's aviation sector; before that, the state's Civil Aeronautics Directorate had run Tocumen directly.
Source: Wikipedia
Tocumen's main runway, 03R/21L, measures 3,050 by 45 meters and carries a Category I instrument landing system on its 03R approach; the older, shorter runway now serves mainly cargo and private flights, plus overflow during peak traffic.
Source: Wikipedia
In 2015 Emirates announced it would fly Dubai to Panama City nonstop starting in 2016, which would have made it the world's longest scheduled flight; the launch was delayed for lack of economic viability and never began regular service.
Source: Wikipedia
Panama's capital finally got rail access to its main airport in March 2023, when the Aeropuerto station of the Panama Metro opened directly at Tocumen, linking the terminal to the city's subway network.
Source: Wikipedia
Tocumen's South Terminal, a $780 million project built by the Brazilian firm Odebrecht that added 20 gates, was inaugurated on April 29, 2019, but delays meant it didn't begin operating until June 22, 2022.
Source: Wikipedia
A 2006 renovation added 20,830 square meters to Tocumen's passenger terminal for about $21 million, replacing 14 aging boarding bridges and adding 22 new ones — six of them remote — to reach 28 gates total.
Source: Wikipedia