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Passenger traffic between Frankfurt and Panama is up 30 percent in the first nine months of 2017, a Lufthansa official said in a recent interview.

The airline’s five flights a week have carried 13,297 passengers on the Panama route this year, Lufthansa vice president of sales in the Americas Tamur Goudarzi Pour told La Prensa.

Lufthansa has been working with Copa Airlines, the fast-growing Panama carrier, to extend its reach throughout the region.

Lufthansa is “discussing how we can extend and expand that cooperation” with Copa, Goudarzi Pour said. Opportunities to increase traffic are on the horizon, including Panama’s recent victory to secure a spot in 2018 World Cup in Moscow.

“Every Panamanian traveler who wants to go to the next World Cup will be able to do so through Lufthansa because we will have additional flights to Russia from Frankfurt to Moscow and St. Petersburg,” Goudarzi Pour told the newspaper. “If someone wants to rent a full plane for a special flight from Panama, we will give a good price.”

World Youth Day, in January 2019, is another event that will bring world attention to Panama.

“We are also looking forward to the World Youth Day and other events in which Panama is promoted as an interesting destination,” Goudarzi Pour said.

Beyond the increase in tourism and business connections, the Lufthansa relationship helps promote Panama throughout Europe.

“We work with different guilds, agencies and institutions to promote [the connection],” as well as the ability of regional passengers to use the route to explore Germany and the “connection to the rest of Europe and much more,” Goudarzi Pour said.

Lufthansa will benefit from the expansion of the Tocumen airport, which includes a new terminal set to open next year.

Duncan McGowan is president of Punta Pacifica Realty, a Panama real estate agency focused on Punta Pacifica, the exclusive neighborhood of 18 towers perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.