Weekly Report - 16 August 2012 (WR-12-32)

ECUADOR| Government seeks to promote flight connectivity. The government of President Rafael Correa has announced that it is analysing the possibility of adding new flight routes in order to increase the country’s transport connectivity to the rest of the world in order to boost tourism. In a conference in Guayaquil, Correa said that his government was analysing how to incorporate flights from Ecuador to new destinations to cities in countries like the US, Argentina and Germany. Correa said the proposal stemmed from a process of looking into the possibility adopting an “open skies” policies, remarking that a team of government officials rejected the adoption of an open skies policies considering that it could allow firms to employ “anti-competitive strategies”. Instead the team is exploring alternatives such as providing specific incentives to companies willing to establish new routes. Correa explained that the strategy aimed to provide “concrete incentives” to foreign and national airlines that are looking to establish new routes.  He mentioned as one option, the possibility of offering a 40% discount in the cost of fuel required to operate the new routes. Correa said that the development of new routes such Guayaquil- Los Angeles, US or Guayaquil-Berlin, Germany or Guayaquil-Buenos Aires, Argentina implies certain cost-levels that the government was currently evaluating before deciding what specific incentives to offer.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 757 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial