United Airlines’ daily direct flight between Denver and Panama City, Panama — touted just 10 months ago as a huge boost for Colorado tourism and jobs — has fallen short of the promise.
The airline confirmed Friday that daily direct service to Panama City ceased on Sept. 6.
“We understand there are challenges when operating a new route,” Denver International Airport spokesman Heath Montgomery said. “We did expect some seasonality in passenger traffic trends, but the lows were lower than we anticipated.”
When the service was announced in May 2014, once daily flights each way between Denver and Panama City were promised year round, except for September and October, when service would drop to five days a week.
The flights began in December, however, “the performance of the flights in the spring and summer” led to the cancellation, United spokeswoman Mary Clark said.
Travelers can still get from Denver to Panama City with layovers in Houston, Newark or Dallas. And Clark said the direct flight will return Dec. 18 through Feb. 28 for ski season — but only twice a week.
The new direct route supported an existing market for Denver-to-Panama travel, according to DIA data. An average of 27.7 passengers traveled daily between the two cities from December 2013 to July 2014.
After the daily flight began, the average jumped 84 percent to about 51 passengers per day through July.
“Overall travel from Denver to Panama City proved to be stronger than we had forecasted, especially during the winter months,” Montgomery said.
The flight’s Dec. 3 inaugural journey was cause for celebration at DIA, complete with water cannons, a balloon arch and a flight packed with dignitaries, including Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.
Hancock said then that the service was expected to bring $35 million to $40 million a year in tourism dollars to Colorado, expand business activity and support about 400 jobs.
The Mayor’s office did not return request for comment on Friday.
Clark said the city is aware of the performance-based change.
“We’re constantly discussing existing and potential new service with the city and they understand that our route decisions are driven by demand,” she said.
United expected 25 to 30 percent of passengers to originate in Colorado. The route placed Denver one stop away from about 40 additional destinations in 11 Central and South America through connections with Copa Airlines, part of United’s Star Alliance network.
When the direct flight resumes in December, it will only fly twice weekly: Denver to Panama will operate Friday and Saturday and Panama to Denver will operate Saturday and Sunday.
“Over time we hope to further strengthen the market which could result in increased frequency, and a longer season, in the future,” Montgomery said.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or @LauraKeeney
