Copa Airlines was founded in 1947 as the national airline of Panama. It began operations with domestic flights to three cities in Panama on Douglas DC-3/C47 planes. By 1966, the airline boasted three weekly flights to San Jose, Costa Rica, which was its first international destination.

In 1969, the first AVRO 748 was introduced for flights to Kingston in Jamaica, Managua in Nicaragua and Barranquilla in Colombia. In the 1970s, Medellin, Cartagena, San Salvador and Guatemala became part of the expanding network of destination cities.