To avoid the company leaving Panama, Tocumen has proposed Viva Colombia to move its operation to Colón airport and to reduce to $10 the airport fee.
Arguing that this would benefit the airline company, authorities at Tocumen reported that they sent a proposal to executives of the airline Viva Colombia, to move their operations to the terminal Enrique Jiménez de Colón.
Citing high operating costs and the increase in the airport tax, the low cost airline VivaColombia has announced that it will stop flying between Panama and the cities of Bogotá and Medellin.
Through a statement, the airline reported that "... VivaColombia, the first low cost airline in the country, announces that it will cancel its Bogota-Panama-Bogotá and Medellín-Panama-Medellín routes as of May 20, 2018. This decision is made taking into account the high operating costs and the increase in the airport tax which went from $15 to $35, representing an increase of 135%."
During the past year 224 thousand passengers traveled from Panama to other countries using low-cost airlines, registering a 5% increase compared to 2015.
<span dir="ltr">Although the growth rate is relatively low, it represents a transformation in the Central American air market.Spirit, VivaColombia and Wingo are three of the low-cost airlines that have increased their presence in the market, competing with the airlines that traditionally shared the region's market.
VivaColombia has announced that the new route between Colombia and Panama Pacific City airport will fly four times a week and will start on September 5, 2016.
Laestrella.com.pa reports that for flights between the Colombian city of Cali and the Panama Pacific International Airport tickets are already available for sale online"... at a price of $150 round trip."
Due to falling demand the VivaColombia airline expects to reduce the number of weekly flights to the Panama Pacifico terminal from seven to four, and is requesting that airport taxes be lowered.
High rates charged by the Panama Pacific International Airport, and the lack of an agreement with the state administrator of Tocumen, SA, have caused the low cost airline VivaColombia to make preparations to reduce the number of weekly flights to the country from seven to four.
VivaLatinoamérica has announced that it will base its operations in the country in order to cater for flights from Central America in 2016.
Viva Group, consisting of the Grupo IAMSA and Irelandia Aviation, revealed that it will base its operations center in Costa Rica for Central American flights.
The airline VivaColombia may put an end to its flights to the terminal arguing that the increase airport tax of $15 to $32 has affected occupancy levels on their flights.
The airline from Colombia is trying to reach an agreement with the authorities of Tocumen SA in order to maintain operations at the terminal in Howard, but stated that if they are unable to do so, they will suspend flights to the airport and use Tocumen instead, starting from March 2016.
The owner of Ryanair and other budget airlines has announced that in 2016 it will start using the country as a base for the low-cost regional airline Viva Can.
Irelandia company is the operator of Ryanair and has been operating Viva Colombia for the last three years and Viva Aerobus in Mexico for ten years. The firm led by Declan Ryan said it plans to start operations in Central America next year with Costa Rica as its base.
The airline Viva founded with Colombian capital has announced it is requesting permission to fly to Costa Rica and then Central America, through the airline Viva CAN.
VivaColombia will be adding a new daily air frequency between Medellin and Howard international air terminal.
The airline, which began operations on August 1 in 2012, announced that the new low-cost flight will fly the route Panama-Medellin-Panama and Panama-Bogota-Panama.
With the entry of two competitors focusing on the business of low-cost fares, the airline market in Central America is preparing for a potential price war.
Panama has become the starting point for tourists looking to travel to the rest of Central America, where new airlines want to capitalize on a market which so far has been driven Copa Airlines and Avianca. Air Panama and VivaColombia are looking to compete in the market offering low prices, but limiting their offer to other services such as luggage.
The arrival of new competitors with frequencies between Colombia and Central America has generated a reduction in rates, favoring customers.
The opening of routes from Medellin and Bogota to Panama, by the airlines AirPanama and VivaColombia with fares "... up to 70% less than those offered by the subsidiary of Copa Holdings" is already generating benefits to travelers.
VivaColombia will be operating a frequency four times a week from Medellín to Howard and AirPanama will be running three times a week, from the same Colombian city to Albrook airport.
The VivaColombiaairline will begin operating flights on August 1, adding these four frequencies to the 20 domestic routes it manages in Colombia. AirPanama will connect the Marcos Gelabert Airport in Albrook to Medellin, the second international destination after San José, Costa Rica.
From 1 August the VivaColombia airline will operate a daily frequency from Bogota to Panama City and four per week from Medellin.
The flights will be made in two formats, an every day roundtrip service during daylight hours between Bogota and Panama and on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, at night between Medellin and Panama City.
The low-cost airline VivaColombia is looking at opening up routes to Central American countries.
During the inauguration of Routes Americas which was held in El Salvador, the head of tourism in the country, Jose Napoleon Duarte said they have begun talks with the low-cost airline VivaColombia, which has shown interest in opening routes to countries in Central America.
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