Panama Canal
One of the world's greatest engineering feats — private guided tours, boat transits and helicopter views of the Canal locks connecting two oceans.
PTY · MPTO · Panama
Tocumen International Airport
Panama City — Panama City. 30 min to Panama City center.
Runway
3400m
Surface
Asphalt
Elevation
36m
Hours
24/7
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Airport at a glance
Panama City — Panama
Panama's real export is not the canal, or at least not only. It is connectivity. Tocumen International, 24 kilometres east of Panama City, is the busiest airport in Central America and the operating base of Copa Airlines, which has built what it calls the Hub of the Americas — a network that connects North, Central and South America and the Caribbean through a single point, timed so that a passenger can move between almost any two of them in a day.
The consequence for anyone building a Central American itinerary is that Panama City is rarely the destination and almost always the pivot. It handles over 16 million passengers a year, and it is the reason a private charter network in this region has to treat PTY as an anchor rather than a stop.
Tocumen operates two parallel runways — 03R/21L at 3,050 metres and 03L/21R at 2,682 metres, both asphalt — at a field elevation of 41 metres. It is the only airport in Central America with a two-runway configuration. Operations are 24 hours, with full customs and immigration. ICAO: MPTO.
The airport opened in 1947 and has been rebuilt around itself several times since. Terminal 2 opened in 2019 and was expanded again in 2025, adding more than twenty gates. A third runway of over 3,000 metres entered bidding in 2025, aimed at lifting capacity towards 25 million passengers a year by 2030.
For charter operations, the practical points are these: PTY is a full-service international field with everything a business aircraft needs, it never closes, and it is a proper port of entry — which matters for any itinerary crossing the Costa Rica–Panama or Panama–Colombia frontier.
Getting there
Tocumen International Airport — Getting there
Panama City has two airports, and they do different jobs.
Tocumen (PTY) is the intercontinental gateway: long-haul arrivals, Copa's network, widebody traffic, 24-hour operations, and 24 kilometres of road between it and the city — 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic, which in Panama City is a genuine variable.
Albrook / Marcos A. Gelabert (PAC) sits 1.5 kilometres from the city centre and handles almost all domestic aviation.
The rule for itinerary building: arrive at PTY, depart domestically from PAC where the schedule permits. A charter departing Albrook saves the cross-city transfer at both ends of the day. Where a same-day international connection is involved, PTY is the right choice and the transfer is unavoidable.
Charter connections. PTY connects to the whole Central American network. Typical block times to and from Costa Rica and the Panamanian regions:
The Contadora hop is the one worth knowing about: twenty-five minutes from an intercontinental terminal to an island in the Pearl archipelago with no cars on it.
| San José | ~119 min | — |
| Bocas del Toro | ~60 min | — |
| David | ~60 min | — |
| Contadora | ~25 min | — |
| Río Hato | ~30 min | — |
Nearby
Things to do near Panama City
More than most travellers expect. Casco Viejo, the colonial quarter rebuilt after Old Panama was sacked by Henry Morgan in 1671, is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and the best restaurant and hotel district in Central America — genuinely, not by regional standards. The Miraflores and Agua Clara visitor centres put you above the canal locks while ships transit. Panamá Viejo, the ruins of the original city, sits at the eastern edge of the modern one.
And the Parque Natural Metropolitano is a tract of tropical lowland forest inside the city limits — the only one of its kind in a Latin American capital — with sloths, toucans and titi monkeys twenty minutes from a skyscraper.
Casco Viejo — Panama City
UNESCO World Heritage colonial district — boutique hotels, rooftop bars, art galleries and the finest restaurants in Central America.
San Blas Islands
338 pristine coral islands in the Guna Yala autonomous territory — crystal-clear Caribbean waters, hammocks over turquoise lagoons and authentic indigenous culture.
Private Yachts & Catamarans — Panama
Luxury yacht and catamaran charters departing from Panama City — day trips to the Pearl Islands, Taboga Island and private anchorages.
Private Helicopter — Panama Canal & City
Exclusive helicopter tours over the Panama Canal, Panama City skyline and the Bay of Panama — the ultimate aerial perspective of the Crossroads of the World.
Helicopter — Canal to Bocas del Toro
Private helicopter from Panama City over the Canal Zone, through the Cordillera Central cloud forest and out to Bocas del Toro's Caribbean islands — the most spectacular cross-country flight in Central America.
Blue Marlin Fishing — Panama Pacific
Panama City's Pacific waters produce some of the heaviest blue marlin in the world — the Hannibal Bank and Zane Grey Reef are legendary big-game destinations. Private 50ft sport fisher, world-class captain.
Private Expedition — Darién Gap
The ultimate Central American adventure — a private guided expedition to the edge of the Darién, with helicopter support, biologist guide and exclusive wildlife encounters in one of the world's least-visited wilderness areas.
Where to stay
Hotels near Panama City
When to fly
When to fly
Panama City has a pronounced dry season from roughly mid-December to April — the verano — with steady trade winds and reliable sun. The rainy season runs May to mid-December, with heavy afternoon convection and September to November the wettest. PTY is an all-weather instrument field and operates through all of it; the constraint is at the small destination strips, not here.
From $870
Fly from PTY to
Belize City · 390 min · $41,000Bocas del Toro · 91 min · $2,640Changuinola · 100 min · $2,900Chitré · 47 min · $1,365Contadora Island · 18 min · $870David · 99 min · $2,870Ciudad de Guatemala · 394 min · $41,400Managua · 236 min · $25,600Río Hato · 32 min · $930San José · 114 min · $7,738San Pedro Sula · 338 min · $35,800San Salvador (Comalapa) · 337 min · $35,700Santiago · 59 min · $1,710
FAQ
Tocumen International Airport — Frequently asked questions
What is the runway length at Tocumen (PTY)?
Two parallel runways: 03R/21L at 3,050 metres and 03L/21R at 2,682 metres, both asphalt, at 41 m elevation. Open 24 hours. ICAO: MPTO.
How far is PTY from Panama City?
About 24 kilometres east of the city centre — roughly 30 to 45 minutes by road depending on traffic.
What is the difference between PTY and Albrook (PAC)?
PTY is the intercontinental gateway, 24 km from the city. Albrook is 1.5 km from the centre and handles domestic aviation. Arrive at PTY, fly domestically from PAC where possible.
Why is Tocumen called the Hub of the Americas?
Copa Airlines operates a connecting bank structure here linking North, Central and South America and the Caribbean through a single point, which is why PTY is the busiest airport in Central America.
Is Tocumen expanding?
Yes. Terminal 2 opened in 2019 and was expanded in 2025, and a third runway of over 3,000 metres entered bidding in 2025, targeting 25 million passengers annually by 2030.
Can private charters operate from PTY?
Yes — it is a full 24-hour port of entry with complete handling infrastructure.