Copa is still listed as earning for Club Premier, but Copa miles/km don't qualify for SkyTeam status, so only redeemable miles/km there.
AM is listed as a Copa partner here
http://www.copaair.com/sites/cc/en/n.../alianzas.aspx but I couldn't find anything about earning on ConnectMiles - looks like that should be on
https://connectmiles.copaair.com/en/partnerships under Other Airline Partners...
I think it makes sense for AM/Copa to keep their partnership as this opens a lot of Mexican destinations and schedule options for passengers that start their journey on Copa and the other way around. This also opens an option for Copa passengers without US visas to get to Europe and Asia, in fact AM is the only option to get from Latin America to Asia nonstop.
AM partners with non-SkyTeam LAN and Avianca even though they share two routes each (MEX-SCL on LAN, MEX-BOG on Avianca and MEX-LIM on both) so I believe that the MEX-PTY competition shouldn't be much of an issue.
Agreed, I do think there are advantages to both airlines to maintain the partnership. And you're right about AM regarding the other international connection opportunities. They've been making a concerted push of late to build MEX as a connection point for connecting passengers not traveling to Mexico. Now if only the Mexican authorities would let them connect passengers as seamlessly as it works in PTY -- ie, no need to pass through immigration and customs -- that would be great.
FYI, I just flew Copa's new Puebla-PTY route this afternoon. I was curious why they decided to add Puebla and Villahermosa -- neither seemed like a logical choice to me, if they were looking for new Mexican destinations. (I'm assuming government subsidies might be involved). The load factor was pretty low ... just 35 passengers, on an E190 jet. And I was the only one in business class.